Prevalence of blastocystis hominis among "healthy" food handlers in Dammam, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

A prospective study was carried out to see the prevalence of B. hominis in food handlers in Dammam, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. A total of 17073 food handlers were examined, 8.50% persons were positive for this organism in their stool. In 2.4% of the food handlers, B. hominis was the only parasite, whereas in 1.9% and 4.2% of the cases, this organism was found in association with pathogenic and non pathogenic parasites respectively. We could find the correlation between the dietary habits and the presence of organism in stool. In l9.9 of the positive food handlers in whom rice was the predominant food the organism was seen, when compared to 80.1% of the predominantly wheat eaters