Intestinal Parasitic Infections in Relation to Diarrhea and CD 4 T - cell Count among Saudi Patients with Chronic Renal Insufficiency

Chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) disease leads to uremia and induces a state of immunodepression. Since the immune system plays an important role in controlling parasitic diseases, so, higher frequencies of infections can be expected among CRI patients. In the present study, 33 hemodialysis diarrheic Saudi patients and 42 immunocompetent diarrheic controls were evaluated for infections with opportunistic and other associating intestinal parasites and their relevance to CD4 Tcell count and type of diarrhea. Results revealed that among hemodialysis patients, high prevalence of Cryptosporidium, Isospora belli, Cyclospora, microsporidia, G. lamblia and Blastocystis hominis (36.3, 93.9, 30.3, 100.0, 45.4 and 90.9% respectively) was detected. Polyparasitism was more frequent among hemodialysis diarrheic patients and was more closely associated with chronic diarrhea and lower CD4 T cell count in comparison to control group. These findings indicate the high susceptibility of hemodialysis patients, specifically those with low CD4 T cell count, to intestinal parasitic infections of which cryptosporidiosis is life-threatening. So, screening for such infections, should be requested from hemodialysis patients once presented with diarrhea. Keywords—Intestinal parasitic infections, hemdialysis, diarrhea, CD4 T cell count, Saudi Arabia