Intestinal parasitic infections among patients attending Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal

This study was conducted to find out the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection among patients attending Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu from July 2011 to February 2012. A total of 312 stool samples collected in a clean, dry screw capped plastic container were examined using the formal-ether concentration and sucrose-flotation techniques. Overall parasite positivity rate was 30.1% with significant difference between males (34.2%) and Female (26.3%) (p < 0.05). Out of total positive, 90.4% had single parasitism whereas 9.6% had multiple parasitism. Children aged < or = 5 years were found to be highly infected (35.8%), followed by 6-15 years (32.1%) and > 15 years old (26.9%). Rate of infection was significantly higher among patients from inside Kathmandu Valley (31.1%) than outside valley (17.4%) (p < 0.05). E. histolytica (38.5%) and Hookworm (10.6%) were the commonest protozoa and helminthes respectively. Other parasites detected were G. lamblia (26.0%), E. coli (1.0%), T. trichiura (7.7%), A. lumbricoides (6.7%), H. nana (5.8%) and Taenia species (3.8%). Out of total parasites detected, 65.4% were protozoa and 34.6% were helminthes. Positive rate was higher in Dalit (37.5%) and Aadibasi-Janjati (34.3%) than Brahman-Chhetri (22.6%) (p < 0.05).