The study aimed to determine the prevalence of Blastocystis hominis among diarrheic patients in Qualyobia Governorate, determine the associated risk factors of the transmission among overall population studied and deter-mine the best direct method for diag-nosis of the parasite. The study was carried out on 1200 cases. The age of the studied groups ranged from 3 month up to 50 years, most cases fall in the age group of 14-35 years and the infection rate was higher in males than females. Regarding to immune status of the studied groups, it was found that out of 530 immunocompromized cases, there were 160 +ve cases (30.2%) for B. hominis, while out of 670 immunocompeten cases, there were 114 +ve cases (17%) and these relations were statistically significant (p value < 0.05). Among 653 cases who were in intimate contact with ani-mals, 155 cases (23.7%) had blasto-cystosis while among 547 cases not in contact with animals, 119 cases (21.8%) had blastocystosis, and these relations were statistically significant (p value < 0.05). The major clinical
tocystosis was abdominal pain in 265 cases (40.8%) while the minor one was joint pain in2 cases (5.9%). cultivation using Jone's medium detected 274 positive cases (22.8%) which was the highest number among all different diagnostic methods. The vacuolar form of the parasite is the most common form found in all methods used in this study followed by cyst form then granular form then the amoeboid form which was detected only in culture. INTRODUCTION
Blastocystis hominis is an enteric protozoan; it is a common cause of gas-trointestinal complaints throughout the world (Abdulsalam et al., 2013). The recognized forms of Blastocystis spp. are vacuolar, granular, multi vacuolar, amoe-boid and cystic forms. As other intestinal parasites, transmission occurs by fecal oral route, although this has not been confirmed experimentally (Coyle et al., 2011). It is believed that Blastocystis hominis can be a pathogen under some conditions such as immunosuppression, malnutrition, transplantation or co-
infpptintle (A Ifpllarti Ti- 10 .31,_ |
