Intestinal Parasites among HIV/AIDS Patients on ART Attending Specialist Hospital, Sokoto State, Nigeria

Abstract

The increase in Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) patients in the world particularly in  the tropics has also resulted in  the increased prevalence  of opportunistic infections including  intestinal parasitic infections among the  patients. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites among HIV/AIDS patients in Sokoto - Nigeria. Stool  specimens from HIV/AIDS patients and control group were screened  for intestinal parasites . Intestinal parasites were identified using direct microscopy, formalin-ether concentration and Ziehl Neelsen methods. A total of 398 participants (150 HIV/AIDS patients on ART, 148 HIV/AIDS patients not on ART and 100 HIV-negative individuals)  were tested among patients consulted at the hospital. The prevalence  of intestinal parasites  was  37.6% (91/150) among HIV positive on ART, 37.1% (80/148) among HIV patients not on ART and  66% (66/100 )  among HIV negatives.  The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites   in respect to gender shows that, HIV infected male had 64.6% (104/161) and female  had 48.9% (67/137) when compared to HIV sero-negatives 59.3% (32/54) and 73.9% (34/46) respectively for males and females.  It was observed that among protozoa, Entamoeba histolytica had the highest prevalence of 19.8% (59/298) in HIV  patients with least prevalence of Balantidium coli of 3.4% (10/298), the most commonest helminthes was Hookworm with 29.9% (89/298) followed by Ascaris lumbricoides   11.1% (33/298).  We recommend that provision of safe drinking water and health education on efficient environmental sanitation and improving personal hygiene could help prevent the contamination of water, food and help promote health and wellbeing among HIV/AIDS patients.