A study on Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Parasitic Infections in HIV (+) Patients Referred to Ahvaz Razi Hospital in 2008-2009

Background: accute immune deficiency syndrom (aids) is a serious and lethal disease in many parts of the world, rendering a patient sensitive to all opportunistic pathogens that can cause death as the disease progresses. many patients suffer from intestinal opportunistic infec- tions by parasites. objectives: the aim of present study was to examine parasitic intestinal infections in aids patients in razi hospital, ahvaz. patients and methods: we collected 100 stool samples from 60 hiv (+) patients who were referred to razi hospital, ahvaz. the samples were examined by direct and mif (merthiolate- iodine-formaldehyde) method. all samples were stained with ziehl-neelsen (acid fast staining) and trichrome. general data, such as clinical signs, duration of disease, route of infection, and habitat of patient, were obtained by questionnaire. results: thirty percent of hiv (+) patients were infected with intestinal protozoan parasites. there was no significant difference in the prevalence of parasite infections between sex or age. the prevalence of parasitic infections was as follows: blastocystis hominis, 16. 7%; cryptosporidium parvum, 8. 3%; endolimax nana, 5%; entamoeba coli, 5%; giardia intestinalis, 3. 3%; e. histolytica cyst, 1. 7%, and dientamoeba fragilis, 1. 7%. conclusions: this study shows that the prevalence of parasitic infections is not high in hiv (+) patient in ahvaz compared with other studies, but it is recommended that fecal examination be performed every 3 months to detect serious parasitic infections and that parasitic infections should be treated after laboratory diagnosis and in the presence of the gastrointestinal symptoms.