Diarrhea and Intestinal Parasites among HIV Infected Patients in Baringo, Kenya

Abstract

Intestinal parasitic infection is one of the health threats in HIV positive patients especially in the developing countries and often presents clinically as diarrhea which further worsens the health status of the HIV patient who are already immunocompromised. This study was carried out to determine the association of intestinal parasites with diarrhea among HIV infected patients in Baringo County, Kenya. A cross-sectional study was carried out at the Baringo District hospital, AMPATH clinic. The ethical approval of the study was obtained from the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and Moi University Institutional Research and Ethical Committee (IREC). A total of 285 stool specimen of confirmed HIV infected patients was collected for laboratory screening for intestinal parasites. Chi-square (?²) statistical analysis was used to test level of significance at P = 0.05 using SPSS. A prevalence of 50.9% of intestinal parasites was recorded. There was an association (p<0.05) between intestinal parasitic infection and diarrhea, frequency of passing stool and stool consistency. Patients with diarrhea had a prevalence of 86.75% of intestinal parasitic infection. Parasites identified were Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (58.3%), Giardia lamblia (16.55%), Ascaris lumbricoides (8.6%), Entamoeba coli (5.96%), Taenia saginata (5.28%), Trichuris trichuria (1.98%), Enterobius vermicularis (1.97%) and hookworm (1.32%). Improving the quality of life of HIV infected patients can be achieved by early diagnosis for the intestinal parasites, often under-estimated in their role of causing morbidity.

Keywords: Prevalence, Intestinal parasites, HIV, Diarrhea, Kenya.