Study of the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in a tertiary care hospital located in central India

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are important public health problems, especially in the developing countries like India. The prevalence of different parasitic diseases depends upon social, environmental, and economic factors. Aim: To evaluate the year-wise, gender-wise, and age-wise prevalence of intestinal parasites among the patients visiting a tertiary care hospital located in central India. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in the microbiology section of central laboratory located in our hospital. All the stool samples received in the laboratory were macroscopically and microscopically examined. The parasite prevalence data collected from June 2007 to May 2012 was evaluated retrospectively. Results: Out of the total 7,215 samples evaluated, 1,004 (13.9%) samples were found to be positive for least one parasite. A total of 969 (13.4%) samples had protozoan parasite and 35 (0.4%) samples had helminthes. Among these, the 670 (9.2%) samples had a single parasite, 278 (3.8%) had dual infection, 51 (0.7%) had triple, and 5 (0.07%) had quadruple infection. Discussion: The parasite prevalence gradually declined from the year 2007 (17.5%) to 2012 (11.7%). The rate of infection was found to be high in males (15.6%) as compared to females (12%) as influenced by day to day activity. More of the infected patients were found to be among age groups 21-30 years as affected by food habits and higher exposure of young adults to contaminated environments. Conclusions: The prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections has though declined year after year due to increased awareness, improved health and sanitary practices, and availability of potable water in our place; still negative reports can be increased by personal implementation of these practices by every individual from rural as well as from urban areas.