ABSTRACT
Present study was carried out to find out the prevalence of intestinal parasites in HIV seropositive (HIV+) subjects and high risk group (HRG) for HIV infection in Nepal. A total 196 (HIV+: n = 112; Age: 16-52 years and HRG: n = 84; Age: 16-39 years) individuals were included. Stool specimens were examined by direct smear, formal-ether sedimentation, Sheather's sucrose floatation and Kinoyun modified Ziehl-Neelsen methods. Overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 35.7% (70/196) (26.7% in HIV+ subjects and 47.6% in HRG subjects). Trichuris trichiura was the commonest parasite in HIV+ subjects (50.0%), whereas hookworm was most common among HRG subjects (56.8%). There was an association of parasitic infections with the gastrointestinal tract symptoms in both the study subjects. Tibeto-Burmans study subjects had marginally higher prevalence than Indo-Aryans study subjects (P > 0.05). Multiparasitic infections were relatively more common among HIV+ subjects (7.2%) in comparison to HRG subjects (4.8%). Similarly the protozoan infections were relatively higher in HIV+ subjects (4.5%) compared with HRG subjects (1.2%). The opportunistic protozoa Cryptosporidium parvum was detected only in 5.2% HIV+ subjects.