Occurrence of Gastrointestinal Opportunistic Parasites in Immunocompromised Patients in Northern India

Gastrointestinal infections are more common and more severe in immunocompromised individuals. This study was performed on immunocompromised patients namely those infected with HIV, transplants recipient and those with haematological malignancies. Work was carried out in the parasitological laboratory, Department of Microbiology, SGPGIMS, Lucknow from 1st February 2008 to 31st June 2008. We found that opportunistic parasitic infections were more common in immunocompromised patients. Most of the HIV patients were young and renal transplant patients were middle age, however, males were found to be at higher risk. Cryptosporidium was the most common opportunistic pathogen followed by Microsporidia. Most of the infections were found in the patients with low CD4 count. Thus patients with low CD4 count must be screened for opportunistic infections.