Prevalence of Parasitic Infections in Iranian Stable Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

Background: Hemodialysis (HD) patients are prone to infections as a result of impaired immune system. Early detection of disease helps to prevent complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of intestinal parasite infections in HD patients and compare it with control groups. Methods: In a cross sectional study, the stool sample of 155 HD patients, and 294 controls were examined for parasitic contaminations. Control groups included: 130 patients’ family, 16 staffs of three HD wards and 148 normal populations. 3 stool samples were taken from each participant. After perceiving the appearance of the samples and preceding the stages of concentration with Formaline-ether method, direct smear were prepared and inspected by trichrome staining. Then, groups were compared with SPSS version12 by chi-square and T-test methods. Results: 43.9% of 155 HD patients were infected by intestinal parasites. There was 40% parasite infection in non diabetic and 45% in diabetic case groups with no significant difference between the 2 groups (P>0.05). There was no relation between parasite infection with sex, HD duration and use of immunosuppressive drugs. 43.1% of control group was also infected.  No significant difference was seen between the 2 groups (P>0.05).The most common parasite was Blastocystis hominis in the 2 groups. Conclusion: This study could not show increased parasite infection in HD patients compared  to control groups. The high prevalence of intestinal parasites in HD patients and control groups, may indicate that population hygiene status is not well controlled, and emphasizes more health care providers’ attention.