Research Article
Yonatan Kindie and Sh
Abstract
Background: There was high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among HIV-infected patients due to poor personal hygiene and suppressed immune system. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in HIV-infected patients who are on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Objective: To assess and determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection and associated risk factors among HIV patients attending ART. Materials and Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2015 to June 2015. The present study included 150 study participants. The study participants were selected conveniently. Socio-demographic characteristics and other related data were collected by using interview based semi-structured questionnaire. Patients` record was assessed to obtain their current CD4 cell count status during the study period. Assessing current CD4 cell count helps identify the status of intestinal parasite infection among HIV patients with respective the CD4 count status. Labeled plastic cups were used to collect stool specimen from each study participants. Descriptive statistics, bi-variate and multivariate logistic regression were performed using SPSS-V 20 software. P value less than 0.05 was used as statistically significant. Result: Direct wet mount, Formol-Ether Concentration and modified Ziehl-Neelson staining was done only for 120 individuals, and intestinal parasites were detected in 54 (45.0 %) of the study participants harboring one or more parasites. Among the detected intestinal parasites, A. lumbricoid accounted for 11.7% followed respectively by E. histolytica (9.2%), S. stercolaris (7.5%) and opportunistic parasites (5.0%). Conclusion and recommendation: Health education about personal hygiene and regular de-worming is very essential for HIV-infected patients.