prevalence of intestinal parasites in hiv-positive patients attending ahvaz health centers in 2012: a cross-sectional study in south of iran

conclusions given the prevalence of most gastrointestinal parasites, the hiv-positive patients show a weak immune system and higher sensitivity for infection particularly for opportunistic parasites. so, routine stool tests for detection of intestinal parasites are very useful for people with weakened immune systems. results the prevalence of intestinal parasites was 48.8%, which shows a high prevalence in hiv-positive patients. there was a significant relationship between prevalence of parasite and variables of job, kind of health centers, history of diarrhea (p = 0.0001), education (p = 0.001), and age (p = 0.005), but there was no relationship with variables of cd4+ count (p = 0.293) and dyspepsia (p = 0.103). patients and methods this cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 hiv-positive patients of the ahvaz health centers who selected by convenient sampling. patients’ demographics were recorded by a researcher-made questionnaire. then, their fecal samples were collected and tested by using direct and concentrated formalin-ether and modified acid-fast staining. data were analyzed by spss 19 software using chi-square and anova (analysis of variance) tests. background aids is now known as a crisis throughout the world. gastrointestinal parasites are the main causes of infections in hiv-positive patients. objectives this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of intestinal parasites in hiv-positive patients who referred to ahvaz health centers, ahvaz, iran in 2012.