Open AccessBackground & objectives: Intestinal parasitic infections are major cause of diarrhoea in HIV infected individuals. The present study was undertaken to detect intestinal parasites in HIV infected patients with and without diarrhoea and to determine association between enteric parasites and CD4 T cell count.
Methods: The study was carried out at Department of Microbiology, Rural Medical College, Loni, India, between September 2010 and August 2012 among consecutively enrolled 127 HIV infected patients presenting with and without diarrhoea.
Stool samples were collected and examined for enteric parasites by microscopy and special staining methods. CD4 cell counts records of patients were taken from Antiretroviral Treatment Centre (ARTC) of the hospital.
Results: Out of total 127 cases intestinal parasites were detected in 27 cases. The incidence of intestinal parasitic infection was 21.25%. Of 27 cases where parasites detected in total, Entamoeba histolytica 13 (48.14 %) was found to be most prevalent parasite followed by Cryptosporidium parvum 9 (33.33%) followed by Giardia lamblia 3 (11.11 %) followed by Taenia spp. 2 (7.40%). In HIV infected patients with CD4 count < 200 cells/μl, C. parvum was the most commonly observed (88.88%) parasite. Whereas the proportion of intestinal parasites in patients with CD4 count 200 – 499 cells/μl was significantly higher as compared with other two groups of patients with CD4 count < 200 and ≥ 500 cells/μl