Prevalence of Opportunistic and other Intestinal Parasites Infections and its Associated Factors among HIV/AIDS Patients attending at Dessie Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northeast Ethiopia

Introduction: Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) deplete CD4+ T cell in human and weaken the immune system, this makes HIV positive patients more susceptible to parasitic and other opportunistic infection. Intestinal parasitic infection plays vital role in the prognosis of people living with HIV/AIDS. This study was aimed to determine the magnitude of intestinal parasitic infection and its determinant among people living HIV/AIDS. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2020 to April 2020. A total of 223 study participants were recruited using simple random sampling. A Pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and other risk factor data. A stool sample was collected to detect parasitic infection using wet mount, formol-ether concentration and Modified ziehl-neelsen technique. The whole blood sample was collected to determine CD4+ T cell count using BD FACSCount™ System. Data was entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Results: Out of 223 participants 166 (74.4%) were males. The mean age of the study participants was 37.9 years old with the majority being found in the age group 26-49 years (64.1%). The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was found to be 38.1%. The prevalence was significantly higher in males (23.7%) than in females (p≤0.002). The most predominant parasite detected was G. lamblia (40%) followed by E. histolytica (32.9%). The prevalence of opportunistic infection was 2.24%. The detected opportunistic parasites were S. stercoloaris, Cryptosporidium spps and I. beli. Sex, residence and low CD4+ T cell counts were significantly associated with the prevalence intestinal parasitic infection among HIV/ AIDS patients. Conclusion: The finding showed intestinal parasitic infections being a major health problem in HIV patients. Low-level CD4 T cell is a risk factor for the high prevalence of parasitic infection. The high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection indicates the need of routine investigation of the infection that will aid for rapid therapeutic management.