PREVALENCE OF ENTERIC PARASITIC INFECTION AMONG HIV-INFECTED ATTENDEES OF AN INNER-CITY AIDS CLINIC

One hundred individuals confirmed to be infected with the human immuno deficiency virus (HIV), volunteered to participate in a pilot study co mparing clinical status and enteric parasite burden with race, age, CD 4 levels, risk factors and sexual practice. The prevalence of enteric parasites was 55 (55%) for Giardia lamblia, 6 (6%) for Cryptosporidium , 10 (10%) for Isospora belli and 3 (3%) for Entamoeba histolytica. Th ere was no associations between demographic variables and the presence of parasites. The presence of giardia was significantly associated wi th anal-penile sex (P=.017), with an odds ratio of 2.9. A logistic reg ression model was used to explain the presence of any parasite by a nu mber of sexual practices. The only practice found to be significant wa s anal-penile sex, which substantially increased the likelihood of the presence of the parasites. In this regression, 38.5% of pairs were co ncordant and 12.2% were discordant. These findings differed from surve ys conducted in similar populations. The significance of this will be discussed in the context of medical service provision to this and simi lar populations.