PREVALENCE OF INTESTINAL PARASITIC INFECTION IN CANCER PATIENTS ATTENDING ONCOLOGY INSTITUTE AT MENOUFIA UNIVERSITY, EGYPT
Amany Ahmed Rady, Amira Fathy Afifi, Amany Ibrahim Ammar
Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Shebin El Kom, Menoufia, Egypt.
Enteroparasites are the most prevailing pathogens causing serious health problems in immunosupressed patients in both developed and developing countries. Stool samples were collected from 140 cancer patients who were hospitalized at the Oncology Institute, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia, Egypt. Patients were receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy or both. Fecal samples were examined macroscopically microscopically and permanently stained to assess the prevalence of parasitic infections. A total of 69 patients out of 140 examined ones were having various parasitic infections with an overall prevalence rate of 49.5%. Blastocystis species was the most frequently detected parasite (36.2%) followed by Cryptosporidium species (26.1%) and lastly, Enterobius vermicularis (2.9%). Enteroparasites were more frequent in radiotherapy patients (68.2%) than in chemotherapy patients (40.6%), while types of cancer therapy did not affect the types of parasitic infection.
December 2017