Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections for six years (2015-2020) in Thi-Qar Province, Iraq

Intestinal parasitic infections are still considered to be a serious public health problem, which are caused by intestinal helminths and protozoa. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in Thi-Qar Province, south of Iraq during a 6-year period. Epidemiological data and medical information regarding intestinal parasitic infections were obtained from patient records at the Public Health Department of the Thi-Qar Health Office, after diagnosing their infection microscopically. This study started from the beginning of January 2015 until the end of December 2020. During the study period, 341,505 intestinal parasitic infections were classified. Total annual infections were successively recorded in the following proportions: 17.17, 12.47, 13.94, 21.56, 24.73 and 10.14. Of the 341,505 patients; 170,208 (49.84%) and 171,297 (50.16%) were males and females, respectively, without a significant difference. The top of total infection cases was shown in the age group of 5-14 years (35.13%), whereas the lowest proportion (4.12%) was recorded in the < 1-year age group. Although the intestinal parasitic infections recorded in the province's districts, Al-Shatra (24.64%) and Al-Nassriya (22.12%) showed the highest proportions. Total infections occurred in all months. Of the 341,505 intestinal parasitic infections, 292,897 (85.76%), 38,005 (11.13%), 10,505 (3.08%), 96 (0.03%), 1 (0.0003%) and 1 (0.0003%) were infected with enterobiasis, amoebiasis, giardiasis, hymenolepiasis, ascariasis and taeniasis, respectively. The intestinal parasitic infections are considered an uncontrolled health problem in Thi-Qar Province that increase in low-hygienic rural regions, and also in young ages. By tracking indicator of annual infections, we observed growing height with infection rates during the study years, especially enterobiasis and amoebiasis.