Abstract
Objective: The objective of this study was to study the demographics of intestinal parasitic infections and find
out the relative frequency of different intestinal parasites in clinical samples received for routine stool
examination from symptomatic patients with diarrhea and/or dysentery.
Study Design: A Retrospective cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Dow Diagnostics Research and Reference Laboratory,
Karachi, Pakistan from January 2008 to December 2013 of stool analysis from the patients with symptoms of
diarrhea and/or dysentery.
Materials and Methods: Microscopic stool examination was performed using direct samples by wet mount
under low as well as high power bright field magnification. Tabulations were performed using Microsoft Excel
while Chi-square test was applied using Open-epi software.
Results: Among the 1815 positive cases infected with single parasites, Entamoebahistolytica was the most
commonly found parasite, followed by Giardia labmlia, Blastocystishominis, Ascarislumbricoides and
Hymenolepis nana. Among these patients, 1081 (59.6%) were males and 734 (40.4%) were females. Chi-square
test was applied using open-episoftware, which showed significant differences among males and females
(p=0.03).
Conclusion: Protozoal intestinal parasites Entamoebahistolytica and Giardia lambliaare the commonest
among all age groups followed by the helminths Ascaris lmbricoides and Hymenolepis nana. Other notable
parasites include Entamoeba coli and Taenia species.
