Haileeyesus Adamu and Beyene Petros
Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Bacteriol Parasitol
In developing countries, gastroenteritis caused by intestinal parasites may be complicated and is a major cause of morbidity, in general, and kills millions of AIDS patients annually. Thus, the consequences of parasitic diseases are among the major health problems in tropical developing countries. A total of 200 HIV positive patients on and without-ART aged from 18 to 65 years, of both sexes participated in the study. Each study participant was provided with a fecal collection vial containing 10% formalin for microscopic examination of ova, larvae and cysts. For detection of Cryptosporidium spp., Isospora belli and Cyclospora spp., the modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining method was used. Most (60%) of the study participants were on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Out of those, only two (1.5%) were diagnosed with an opportunistic parasite and 96 (48%) of the non-ART study participants were infected with at least one other intestinal parasite species. The prevalence was 16% for Giardia lamblia, 13% for Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar, 8% for Cryptosporidium spp., 5% for Isospora belli, 1.5% for Blastocystis hominis, 2.5% for Ascaris lumbricoides and 2% for Hymnolepis nana. Diarrhea was significantly associated with cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis and isosporiasis. Significant association was observed between lower CD4+ T cell count (<200 cells/μL) and the prevalence of Cryptosporidium spp., Isospora belli and Blastocystis hominis. The three parasites were significantly prevalent in HIV sero-positive patients not on ART. The finding showed that patients under ART had lower prevalence of diarrheagenic protozoan parasites suggesting that ART through improvement of the immune status of patients may have contributed to controlling parasites in HIV/AIDS patients.