A Survey of Intestinal Protozoa among Children and Adults in Los Angeles

Abstract

A number of reports have been published from California which give the incidence of intestinal protozoan infection in hospital patients and in groups examined in medical practice who were suspected of having gastro-intestinal symptoms (see Barrow (1924), Kofoid (1926), Kessel and Mason (1930)). More recently, two reports have appeared from non-clinical groups, one by Johnstone, David and Reed (1933) on a group of prisoners from San Quentin and one by Iverson and Johnstone (1937) on food handlers from San Francisco. The present report records the results of examination2 of 2016 individuals, examined for purposes of survey alone, these persons exhibiting no gastro-intestinal symptoms for which they sought medical examination. They belong to three groups: (1), 585 adults seeking work as kitchen employees in the Los Angeles County Hospital; (2), 753 adult clinic patients seeking medical attention for conditions other than gastrointestinal in nature; (3), 678 children from a Los Angeles City Juvenile Detention Home.