Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in Iraq during 2015

Abstract

Infections with gastro-intestinal parasites are associated with poor sanitation, unsafe human waste disposal, inadequate of safe drinking water, low socioeconomic status, demographic factors and spatial. The aims of this survey were to identify possible associations of nine gastro-intestinal parasites with patient demographics (age,gender) and spatial localities (provincial sources). This study is retrospective, including reported cases of infections using an available surveillance database from January 2015 to December 2015 of all provinces of Iraq by the Ministry of Health. Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Enterobius vermicularis and Giardia lamblia are found to be the predominant parasites. Generally, males showed higher risk for infections than females, and the majority of cases were recorded among 5-14- A nd 15-45-year age groups. Approximately 79% of cases derived from Baghdad, Basra, Thi-qar, Najaf, Diyala, Babil and Qadisiyah each showed total cases ? 10000. These findings may provide simple insights for public health specialist assessing management approaches for the control of gastro-intestinal parasites in Iraq especially for the top three parasites.