Prevalence and epidemiologic characteristics of opportunistic and non-opportunistic intestinal parasitic infections in HIV positive patients in Manipur.

A survey of the intestinal parasites among the HIV positive asymptomatic injecting drug users (IDUs) in Manipur State in North-east India revealed the presence of three protozoan and two nematode species. Of these, the two opportunistic parasitic protozoans i.e., Cryptosporidium sp. (94.4 percent) and Isospora sp. (10.7 percent) were predominant over Entamoeba histolytica (5.6 percent), while non-opportunistic parasitic nematodes, i.e. Ascaris lumbricoides (4.6 percent) and Ancylostoma sp. (1 percent) were the less frequently detected ones. In all cases, the fungal flora were predominant. Candida sp. was more often encountered compared to Cladosporium and Humicloa. The study also revealed that although these individuals showed no gastro-intestinal disorders like diarrhoea, they still harbour these opportunistic and non-opportunistic parasites and act as carriers, particularly of the former category, in the community via contaminated water and open defaecation practices.

Cryptosporidiosis in HIV infection.

Preserved faecal specimens (10 per cent Buffer formalin), from 150 HIV infected persons having symptomatic diarrhoea and 50 non-diarrhoeal apparently healthy people aged between 15-30 years were examined to detect the presence of cryptosporidium infection. 70 diarrhoeal patients (46.6 per cent) were found to excrete this pathogen. None of the non-diarrhoeals was found to excrete this parasite. It is evident from the present study that cryptosporidium is highly prevalent amongst the HIV infected persons with symptomatic diarrhoea. All the HIV infected persons were known cases of injected drug users.