prevalence of intestinal microsporidia in patients with intellectual disabilities in rehabilitation centers of hormozgan province, southern iran

Background: the present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of intestinal microsporidia in patients with intellectual disabilities in the rehabilitation centers of hormozgan province in south of iran, using microscopic and molecular methods.methods: the current cross-sectional study was conducted on 119 stool samples obtained from patients with intellectual disabilities. acid-fast trichrome staining was used to detect parasites. moreover, all of the stool samples were assessed for the presence of microsporidia dna by the pcr method.results:  the mean age of the subjects was 29 (±12.3) years. all stool samples were examined for microsporidia infection, and only one case of enterocytozoon was detected in one of the samples. the results of the nested-pcr test on 119 stool samples showed one case of infection with enterocytozoon bieneusi, corresponding to a prevalence of 0.84%. the nested-pcr test for encephalitozoon intestinalis detected no infections in any of the stool samples.conclusion: the overall prevalence of microsporidia among patients with intellectual disabilities in hormozgan rehabilitation centers is low and limited to e. bieneusi.