INTESTINAL PARASITIC INFESTATION IN SAUDIS AND NON-SAUDIS IN THE ARMED-FORCES HOSPITAL, RIYADH

Objective: This study was undertaken to review the prevalence of intes tinal parasites among patients attending the Armed Forces Hospital, Ri yadh and to compare our findings with those in the published literatur e. Design and Subjects: Between January 1989 and December 1992, 34 236 stool specimens collected from 19 258 patients attending the Riyadh A l Kharj Armed Forces Hospital were examined for ova and parasites usin g a concentration method. Results: Of the 16 423 Saudis, 2745 (16.7%) were infected while 471 (16.6%) of 2835 non-Saudis were infected. Chil dren under the age of 10 years had the highest prevalence (19.5%). The commonest parasites in both Saudis and non-Saudis were Giardia lambli a and Entamoeba coli. There is no significant difference in the rate o f infection between Saudis and non-Saudis, contrary to previous report s. Conclusion: The prevalence of pathogenic parasites is significantly higher among Saudis than non-Saudis. The Yemenis, South-East Asians a nd Sudanese were the three nationals most heavily infected. The preval ence of intestinal parasites from previous studies in the Kingdom were compared with findings in this study. Considerable variation and diff erences were observed in the prevalence and aetiology of intestinal pa rasites in different population groups. A plea is made that future inv estigators should utilize the services of experienced personnel to stu dy large sample sizes so that meaningful results can be obtained for t he benefit of public health planners and community physicians.