Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir India-five year retrospective study

Abstract

Intestinal parasitic infections represent a grave public health problem especially in developing nations like India, leading to malnutrition, growth retardation, anaemia’s and vitamin deficiencies in early childhood. As such the burden of these intestinal parasitic infections in the society needs to be focussed at the right time which will in turn lead to enhanced health and improved economic conditions of the country. To find out the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir. A retrospective study was carried out in the Parasitology division in the department of Microbiology of Government Medical College, Srinagar for a period of five years. Routine stool examination was studied to detect the parasitic infections among the patients attending various outpatient departments of our hospital. A total of 2159 stool samples were examined in five years out of which 165 (7.6%) revealed the presence of parasites. The most common parasite identified was (71.9%) followed by Giardia lamblia (16.4%).Intestinal infection due to was the most common parasite identified in our study. The prevalence of these infections can still be higher as these parasites are excreted intermittently in stool samples. As such taking repeat samples from same patients suffering from intestinal parasitic infection is important followed by concentration methods, which together will help and enhance better retrieval of intestinal parasites reflecting the total burden of these infections in our community.