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. 2023 Nov 1:16:7007-7014.
doi: 10.2147/IDR.S434214. eCollection 2023.

Distribution of the Intestinal Parasites According to Species and Gender in Patients Presented to the Microbiology Laboratory in a Tertiary Hospital, in Somalia Between January 2018 and October 2022

Serpil Doğan  1 , Said Mohamed Mohamud  1 , Rahma Yusuf Haji Mohamud  2 , Ahmed Mohamed Ali Orey  3 , Zerife Orhan  4
Affiliations

Distribution of the Intestinal Parasites According to Species and Gender in Patients Presented to the Microbiology Laboratory in a Tertiary Hospital, in Somalia Between January 2018 and October 2022

Serpil Doğan et al. Infect Drug Resist. .

Abstract

Purpose: In this study, it was aimed to determine the 5-year prevalence of intestinal parasites in patients admitted to the Microbiology laboratory of a tertiary hospital in Somalia. Intestinal parasites; Types of patients, age and sex of the patients, and the distribution by years were examined.

Patients and methods: Stool samples were examined using wet preparation, native lugol and trichrome staining methods. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS V23 software and a P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Tables and figures were used to show the results.

Results: One or more parasites were detected in 6766 of 56,824 stool samples examined. It was observed that Giardia lamblia had a higher prevalence than other parasites (60.84%) in a five-year period. Entamoeba histolytica (33.07%) second rank and Ascaris lumbricoides (3.18%) third rank according to their prevalence. When the distribution of the parasite population by gender is evaluated; no statistically significant difference was found (p = 0.235). When the frequency of parasites was evaluated according to age groups, it was seen that the prevalence of parasites between the ages of 0-15 was higher (45.5%) compared to other age groups. A statistically significant difference was found between the distribution of parasite groups according to age groups (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Considering the effects of intestinal parasites on public health, it is still considered to be an important health problem for developing countries. It is thought that the frequency of parasitic diseases in society will decrease with the education of individuals, effective diagnosis, treatment, and implementation of preventive measures.

Keywords: Somalia; intestinal parasite; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in relation to this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Bar graph of parasite species.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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