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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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.