Infection and Drug Resistance (Jun 2022)
Intestinal Parasitic Infections Among Patients Who Visited Woldia Comprehensive Specialized Hospital’s Emergency Department Over a Six-Year Period, Woldia, Ethiopia: A Retrospective Study
Abstract
Solomon Rega,1 Yimer Melese,2 Alene Geteneh,3 Desie Kasew,4 Tegegne Eshetu,5 Sirak Biset4 1Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Woldia Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Woldia, Ethiopia; 2Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Dessie Health Science College, Dessie, Ethiopia; 3Department of Medical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia; 4Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia; 5Department of Medical Parasitology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Sirak Biset, Tel +251 911-598-568, Email [email protected]: Despite ongoing intensive public health intervention efforts, intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) remain a major public health problem in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Having updated epidemiological data focusing on the top common IPIs that cause emergency visits is crucial for implementing area-specific and evidence-based intervention strategies. Hence, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of IPIs in Woldia Comprehensive Specialized Hospital’s (WCSH) emergency laboratory over a six-year period.Methods: An institutional-based retrospective study was conducted to assess the prevalence of IPIs over a six-year period (2014– 2019) using a recorded saline wet-mount stool sample examination result in the laboratory logbook at WCSH’s emergency department.Results: In this study, of the total of 11,281 clinically suspected individuals who were requested for stool sample examination, 3908 (34.6%) individuals were diagnosed with IPs. The majority of confirmed cases were caused by protozoan parasites (32.9%), followed by helminth infections (1.7%). A slight fluctuating trend in the prevalence of IPs was observed in the six-year study period, with the highest prevalence documented in the year of 2014 (41.3%) and the lowest in 2017 (28.0%). Entamoeba histolytica/dispar and Giardia lamblia accounts for 95% of the IPs. The prevalence of protozoan infection was significantly higher in females (p-value = 0.0101), while H. nana (p-value =0.0138) and E. vermicularis (p-value = 0.0201) infections were higher in males. The highest and the lowest IP prevalence were reported in the age groups of 45– 54 years (40%) and under five years (25.6%), respectively.Conclusion and Recommendations: In the study area, nearly one-third of patients with emergency visits due to gastrointestinal symptoms were infected with IPs. This underlines the severity of the problem in the study area, which requires a collaborative effort of concerned bodies to minimize the burden of IP to the level where it is no longer a public health threat.Keywords: intestinal parasite infection, protozoa, helminth, emergency, Ethiopia
