Opportunistic Intestinal Parasitic Infections in Hiv Seropositive Patients

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositive patients usually suffer from opportunistic intestinal parasitic infections leading to high mortality & morbidity, knowledge about the etiological agents in HIV can often guide the treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the opportunistic parasites in HIV associated diarrhoeal and nondiarrhoeal patients and to study the importance of stool examination in early detection of these parasites for appropriate therapy. Stool samples from 75 HIV seropositive cases with diarrhoea, and 35 HIV seropositive cases without diarrhoea, were examined by different microscopic methods for the detection of opportunistic intestinal parasites. Statistical analysis was done using Chi square test. The overall prevalence of opportunistic parasitosis in this study was 21.8%. The predominant opportunistic parasites detected in diarrhoeal patients were Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) 17 (22.67%), followed by Isospora belli 2 (2.67%) and among non-diarrhoeal patients only 2 cases (5.72%) were positive for C. parvum. Out of 24 parasites detected, majority of the parasites were found in the age group of > 50 years i.e. 8 (33.33%) followed by the age group of 0 years -10 years 7 (29.16%). Modified Ziehl Neelsen method was observed to be the most sensitive method to detect coccidian parasites. It is recommended that stool samples of HIV seropositive patients should be checked routinely for Opportunistic intestinal parasites like C. parvum in order to institute appropriate treatment.