Prevalence of <i>Cryptosporidium</i> Species and Other Intestinal Parasites Among HIV Infected Patients at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria

Abstract

<i>Background</i>: Cryptosporidiosis though an opportunistic infection in HIV infected patients, increases the mortality and morbidity to the diseases by its effect suppression of the immune system, our quest is to highlights the clinical correlation of diarrhea in immunocompromised individuals and the economic losses associated with managing infected individuals. <i>Methods</i>: Stool samples were collected from 96 subjects. Their personal information regarding their names, sex, age was also obtained. The stool samples were processed for non-opportunistic parasite using the direct and formol-ether concentration method. For Cryptosporidium, Modified Ziehl-Neelsen Technique was used. A total of ninety-six confirmed HIV individuals were enrolled for this study. <i>Results</i>: The mean age of the patients was 24.7 years with the youngest been 3 years old and the eldest 58 years old. 77 (74%) were females while 22 (23%) were males. Table 1 shows the general characteristics of the HIV subjects recruited into the study. The distribution of intestinal parasites detected in patient’s stool is shown in Table 2. Of the 96 stool samples examined, intestinal parasites were seen in 87 samples, while 9 samples showed absence of parasites. The diagnosed parasitic infections were: <i>Cryptosporidium</i> spp (54.2%), <i>A. lumbricoides</i> (9.4%), Hookworm (5.2%), <i>E. histolytica</i> (3.1%), <i>S. stercoralis</i> (1%) and Teania spp (1%). Double parasitic infections with Cryptosporidium were observed in 13 (13.5%) HIV/AIDS patients stool samples. Regarding age and sex distribution of the participants, there were 74 (77%) females and 22 (23%) males. Males (68.2%) were more infected than females (55.4%) but the difference was not statistically significant. Table 3 shows relationship between intestinal parasitic infection and diarrhea in the HIV/AIDS patients. 45 (86.5%) of patients with Cryptosporidium infection presented with diarrhea. <i>Conclusion</i>: The association between diarrhea and Cryptosporidium infection was statistically significant. It may be concluded that in HIV infected patients, both opportunistic intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent.