A preliminary study on the prevalence of parasitic infections in immunocompromised children.

Parasitic infections might become life threatening in immuno-compromised children' the study assessed the parasites' prevalence in different groups of immuno-compromised children. it was conducted on 120 children of whom 90 were inpatients in tanta university pediatric hospital and were divided into 6 groups. gi: malignant diseases,gii: renal diseases,giii: aggressive corticosteroid therapy,giv: malnourished,gv: diabetic & gvi: miscellaneous. gvii comprised healthy children as control. each child was subjected to history taking,clinical examination and examination of 3 stool samples by direct wet smear and a concentration technique. coproculture and smear staining by a special stain,as well as examination of one blood sample for anti-toxoplasma antibodies were done. the diagnostic efficacy of an immuno-chromatographic test for giardia/ cryptosporidium coproantigen was also assessed. the results revealed parasitic infections in 62.2% of the children in the test groups. cryptosporidium was the most prevalent (33.3%). cryptosporidium and microsporidia were significantly prevalent in gi,giardia was significantly high in gii,and strongyloides stercoralis was detected in giii. coproantigen detection test showed 100% sensitivity,87.5% specificity and 95% accuracy for giardia; and 13.3%,100%,35% for cryptosporidium respectively.