Prevalence of Opportunistic Intestinal Parasites and Associated Factors among HIV Patients while Receiving ART at Arba Minch Hospital in Southern Ethiopia A Cross-sectional Study

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Getaneh Alemu
Dagninet Alelign
Ashenafi Abossie

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Opportunistic Intestinal Parasites (OIPs)commonly cause morbidity in HIV/AIDS patients due to the declineof CD4 + T-cells. The burden of Opportunistic Intestinal ParasiticInfections (OIPIs) in Ethiopia is expected to be high due to poorsanitation and co-pandemicity of HIV/AIDs. Therefore, frequentassessment of the magnitude and associated factors for intestinalparasitosis is essential for the management of HIV/AIDS patients.METHODS: A hospital based cross-sectional study was conductedamong patients attending Arba Minch Hospital AntiretroviralTherapy (ART) Clinic from March to June 2016. Stool specimenswere processed for parasitological examination using direct wetmount, formol-ether sedimentation and modified Ziehl-Neelsenstaining techniques. CD4+ T-cell count data were taken frompatients’ medical records. A structured questionnaire was used tocollect data on socio-demographic characteristics and possibleassociated factors for OIPIs. All the data were analyzed usingSPSS version 20.RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty ART patients participated inthe study. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infectionswas 28.18% while that of OIPIs alone was 17.72%. Amongidentified intestinal parasites, Cryptosporidium species accountsfor the highest frequency (19/220, 8.63%), followed by Cyclosporaspecies (13/220, 5.90%). Presence of domestic animals (AOR=2.07,95%CI:1.07-8.40, P= 0.032) and CD4+ T-cell count <500cell/μl(AOR=4.66, 95%CI:1.17-5.35, P= 0.001) were significantlyassociated with OIPIs.CONCLUSION: The study indicated that co-infection rate of OIPsis high among ART patients. It also found that contact withdomestic animals and having CD4+ count <500 cell/μl predict forthe presence of OIPs.

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Original Article
Author Biographies

Getaneh Alemu, Arba Minch University,Arba Minch,Ethiopia

Department of Medical Laboratory
Science

Dagninet Alelign, Arba Minch University,Arba Minch,Ethiopia


Department of Medical Laboratory
Science

Ashenafi Abossie, Arba Minch University,Arba Minch,Ethiopia

Department of Medical Laboratory
Science