Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infections and Associated Risk Factors In West of Mazandaran Province, Iran

Background and Despite increasing awareness and developments in community health, intestinal parasitic infections are still a problem. There is no accurate statistics about the prevalence rate of intestinal parasites in west of Mazandaran province. The aim of this article was to investigate the present prevalence of intestinal parasites and survey of their risk factors in this region.
A cross-sectional research was carried out in 880 individuals attending rural and urban health centers in west of Mazandaran (Ramsar, Tonekabon and Chalus). Written consents were obtained and fecal specimens were collected from each person and tested by direct methods, formalin-ether, trichrome, and acid fast staining.
The overall prevalence rate of intestinal parasitic infections was 13.8%. The prevalence rate of parasites in males and females were 6.5% (n=65) and 8.1% (n=56), respectively. The following parasitic infections were found: Blastocystishominis (6.3%), Giardia intestinalis (4.5%), Cryptosporidium (0.2%), Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (0.5%), Entamoeba coli (0.9%), Chilomastixmesnili (0.1%), Iodamoeba butchlii (0.2%), Strongyloides stercoralis (0.6%), Taenia saginata (0.2%), and Hookworm (0.1%). Also, mixed infection with Giardia and E.coli was observed in in one sample (0.1%).
The prevalence rate of intestinal parasites in Mazandaran province was reduced compared to the rates reported in previous studies. This might be due to increasing awareness of people, improved environmental health and wastewater treatment, and reducing parasitic contamination of vegetables.