Intestinal parasites detected during pre-employment stool examination at tertiary health care center in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

This retrospective study determined the intestinal parasites discovered in 2490 new employees in a tertiary health care center in Makah as regards nationalities, age groups and sex over the period from January 2010 to January 2014 to decrease introduction of communicable diseases.

All the data were provided through the electronic hospital information system.

The overall positive cases were 16 %, significantly higher in females 57.4 % than males 42.6 %.

Differences in distribution of positive records among different geographical areas were highly significant being highest in East Asia 59.8 %.

Blastocystis hominis was the most common parasite.

It occurred in 78.9 % of positive cases followed by Entamoeba coli 9.3 %, Giardia lamblia 5.8% and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar 5.3 %.

These findings should motivate any other country importing expatriate employees to have effective screening programs for intestinal parasites.