Prevalence of Intestinal Parasites among Patients with Chronic Urticaria in Northern Iran

Abstract

Background: Chronic urticaria (CU) has a range of clinical demonstrations and causes. Parasitic infections are mentioned as one of the main causes of the CU.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of intestinal parasites in patients with CU (with duration time of more than 6 weeks) compared healthy subjects.

Methods: A total of 169 cases and 210 controls were included in this study. Ages ranged from 1 to 77 years old. Three samples were gathered from each patients and direct wet mount, formol-ether concentration, Ziehl-Neelsen and trichrome staining were used.

Results: Out of the 379 individuals examined here, 208 were from urban areas and 171 from rural areas. Three stool samples were taken from each patient in three consecutive days. Based on parasitological tests, 7 (4.1%) cases from 169 patients with CU and 6 (2.9%) cases from 210 non- CU group individuals were positive for intestinal parasites.

Conclusion: The prevalence of various parasites between case and control groups was not significant.

Keywords: Blastocystis hominis; Entaomba histolytica; IgE; Intestinal parasites; chronic urticaria; prevalence.