Enteric protozoan parasitic infections in HIV seropositive individuals

---

Original Article

Author Details : Lalitha C, Sandhya Belwadi, Sreenivasa Babu PR

Volume : 2, Issue : 4, Year : 2016

Article Page : 131-135

Suggest article by email

Get Permission

---

Abstract

Background: Parasitic infection of the intestinal tract is a major source of disease in patients with HIV particularly in the tropics where diarrhoea is a common complaint with variable severity and specific pathogens are to be identified in more than half of the HIV/AIDS patients with chronic diarrhoea.
Objectives: The objectives of this study was to identify the presence of intestinal protozoan parasites in HIV seropositive individuals & to compare the use of Formol ether sedimentation and Sheather’s sugar floatation technique in identifying Cryptosporidium, Modified Trichrome and Calcofluor White stain to identify Microsporidia.
Material and Methods: A total of 78 HIV seropositive patients were included in the study from Oct 2003 to March 2004. Enteric protozoan parasitic infections were diagnosed by microscopic examination of stool specimens, which were examined as fresh wet mounts, stained smears like Modified Ziehl Neelsen, Modified Trichrome and Calcofluor white stain, Sheather’s sugar floatation and Formol ether concentration techniques.
Results: In our study, 20 samples (25.6%) revealed the presence of enteric protozoan parasites, 10.25%, 9%, 5.12%, 1.3% showed the presence of Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica and Isospora belli respectively.
Conclusion: The presence of different parasites in 25.6% of stool specimens of patients with HIV indicates that their specific diagnosis is essential. This will help initiate therapy to reduce morbidity and mortality among such patients due to these pathogens.

Keywords: HIV / AIDS; Cryptosporidium; Diarrhoea; Enteric Protozoan Parasites

How to cite : Lalitha C, Belwadi S, Sreenivasa Babu Pr, Enteric protozoan parasitic infections in HIV seropositive individuals. IP Int J Med Microbiol Trop Dis 2016;2(4):131-135

This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.