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  Background & Objectives: Intestinal infestation is among the most common infections in the world, being responsible for considerable morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal infestation and related risk factors among students of primary schools in Ardabil.

  Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted in 24 primary schools of Ardabil in 2003. A total of 1070 school children between 7-13 years of age (527(49.3%) boys and 543(50.7%) girls) took part in this study. Fecal specimens were collected by random sampling and were examined for ova, larva and cysts of intestinal parasites using direct wet mount and formalin-ether concentration methods.

  Results: A total of 1 0 species were identified, Giardia lamblia (14.2%), Blastocystis hominis (10.2%) and Entamoeba coli (4.1%) were the most common parasites, respectively, the over all prevalence rate for at least one parasite was 27.7%. There was no statistically significant difference in prevalence of parasites by sex, age, class grade and rate of infection (p>0.06).

Conclusion: This study indicated that there is a high rate of intestinal infestation rate among primary school students. So health education about personal hygiene is necessary for the students and their parents, especially mothers.

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  Background & objectives: Intestinal parasitic infections are the most health threatening agents around the world, developing countries in particular. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Giardia lamblia and Enterobiusvermicularis among the children of kindergartens in Shahroud, Iran.

  Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study from 811 children of 15 kindergartens fecal samples were collected by way of census in 2013. Thisworkwas conductedwith education of parentsandtheirfull consent . All samples were examined at Central Laboratory of Shahroud University of Medical Sciences based on formalin ethyl acetate method. In addition direct smear was also applied for the watery and loose samples. Finally, collected scotch tape samples were examined microscopically. Descriptive statistics indices including means , standard deviations, and frequencieswere used for reporting the results .

  Results: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among the children of Shahroud's kindergartens was 22.2%. Also, the prevalence of the infections among males and females were 24.1% and 20.4%, respectively. The highest prevalence of infections were belongs to Giardia lamblia and Endolimax nana (7.4 and 4.8%), respectively. Also, Trichomonashominis had the lowest prevalence (0.5%). Prevalence of infection caused by Enterobiusvermicularis was (2.1%), the average agesof children infected by Enterobiusvermicularis and Giardia were 5.1 and 4.7, respectively. There was no difference in order of parasites infection on the basis of gender.

  Conclusion: The prevalence of infection caused by Enterobiusvermicularis among the children was considerably low. Also, the prevalence of Giardia lamblia was lower than the average of its prevalence in countrywide scale. Although the health services have been effectively enhanced, the prevalence of intestinal parasites, Giardia lamblia in particular, is still problematic.

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Background & objectives: Parasitic infections are among important health problems all over the world especially in developing countries. Considering the epidemiological importance of parasitological diseases and necessity to evaluation the parasites prevalence in different areas and populations, current study aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites in patients admitted to the laboratories of Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran.

Methods: This is a retrospective cross sectional study in which stool examination reports of all referred patients (70978) to central and emergency laboratories of Baqiyatallah hospital were evaluated during 2010-2014. In this course, at least one stool sample of patients was assessed by direct smear and formalin-ethyl acetate methods. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in SPSS 16. Chi-square test was used for comparison of the prevalence.

Results: From 70978 patients, 42421(59.77%) and 28557(40.23%) were male and female, respectively. From 2617 infected individuals, 1841(70.3%) and 776 (29.7%) were males and females, respectively. The prevalence of pathogen and non-pathogen intestinal parasites was 2283(87.23%) and 334(12.76%) respectively. Also the prevalence of intestinal helminthes and protozoa in infected population was 0.42% and 99.57%, respectively. Blastocystis hominis and then Giardia lamblia were the prevalent parasites.

Conclusion: In current study the prevalence of parasites is lower than those reported in other investigations. Differences in geographical location, sample size, duration and type of study (prospective or retrospective) and study population may be effective agents. The higher prevalence of "Blastocystis hominis" in comparison with other parasites can attract more attention to improve the quality of laboratory and clinical diagnosis of this protozoa

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Background & objectives: Parasitic diseases are one of the health problems of all societies and are considered as barriers to progress socioeconomic development, especially in most developing countries. This study evaluated the frequency of intestinal parasites in patients referred to hospitals affiliated with Ardabil University of Medical Sciences in 2018.
Methods: a total of 409 stool samples were collected from laboratories of Imam Khomeini and Bouali hospitals and then transferred to the parasitology lab in the medical and paramedical school. Samples were evaluated using direct, concentration and culture methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 21.
Results: Out of 409 samples, 22 cases (5.4%) were infected with intestinal parasites. Among them, 5.3% and 5.4% of infected cases were men and women respectively. Also, the rate of infection to the protozoans and helminths was 3.7% and 1.7% respectively. Among the positive cases, the highest percentage of infection was related to Giardia and Blastocystis.
The infection rate of each parasite among all patients and positive cases was 1.2% and 22.7% respectively.
Conclusion: The present study showed that intestinal protozoan infection, especially Giardia lamblia and Blastocystis hominis are high in Ardabil city, and therefore special infection control measures are urgently needed.
 

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Background & objectives: In recent years, more attention has been paid to the cognitive impairments of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and several studies have been conducted in this field. One of the areas that have been considered in these studies is the defect in executive functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of executive functions in differentiation children with intestinal parasitic diseases and ADHD in Karaj city.
Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The statistical population consisted of all children referred to the Radmin Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center of Karaj in 2019. Convenient sampling was performed on 120 children in groups of 40 members, including healthy children, children with ADHD and intestinal parasite infection group. Research tools included diagnostic interview, Conners grading scale, continuous performance test, n-back test and parasitic test. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 23 using logistic regression and diagnostic analysis.
Results: Findings showed that logistic coefficients of active memory in children with intestinal parasite and active memory and attention retention in children with ADHD were significant. Also, healthy children and children with ADHD (85%) and children with intestinal parasitic disease (52.5%) had the highest accuracy in predicting respectively. based on the proposed model they were correctly classified.
Conclusion: Just as hyperactivity has a pattern of dysfunction performance in executive functions such as working memory and attentional retention, intestinal parasite-related diseases can also have such symptoms. In fact, the symptoms of a child with intestinal parasite are very similar to the symptoms of a person with ADHD, which can lead to errors in assessment and diagnosis.