A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON PREVALENCE OF INTESTINAL PARASITES AMONG CANCER PATIENTS WITH A CONTROL GROUP IN HEALTH CARE CENTERS OF RASHT CITY (2017)

Background and Aim:Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are among important threats of immunocompromised patients, especially those with cancer, and have considerable effects.Methods:In this descriptive – cross sectional study, 761 stool samples were collected from studied groups (including 362 samples of chemotherapy patients and 399 samples from the control group) from March to September 2017. Samples were testes by direct, Formalin – Ether and Ziehl – Neelsen staining methodsResults:The overall parasitic infection rate was 11.3% in chemotherapy group and 7.3% in control group. The most prevalent infections were Blastocystis hominis (8.9%) and Strongyloides stercoralis (0.5%). Statistical analyses revealed a significant correlation between the ratio of chemotherapy frequency to scheduled frequency and parasitic infections (P = 0.001).Conclusion:Respecting lethality of some parasitic infections such as Strongyloides stercoralis in inmmunocompromised patients, results of the present study suggested that periodic stool examinations in special parasitological laboratories should be included as a part of routine medical care in these groups of patients.

Keywords:

Intestinal parasites , Dialysis , Chemotherapy