Prevalence of Intestinal Parasites among Patients Attending Zella Central Laboratory, Zella City, Libya

Intestinal parasites have become one of the most important health problems for public health experts and decision-makers in many countries. In Zella city, the prevalence of intestinal parasites was not studied before, therefore, the current study was conducted to identify the intestinal parasites in Zella city. The data in this study was collected from the records of the central laboratory in Zella city over the period of time, from the beginning of 2015, till the end of 2019. A 839 samples were examined, and 728 samples were infected with parasites, which represent 87%. The results of the study revealed the presence of four types of intestinal parasites with different proportions as follows: Entamoeba histolytica by 65%, Ascaris lumbricoides by 24%, and Entamoeba coli by 10%, and Giardia lamblia by 0.7%. The results of the study also indicate that the infection rate of males and females were very close, 86% and 87%, respectively. The results of the current study also indicate that the single type infection pattern was the most common compared to the mixed parasite infection, 95%, and 5%, respectively. The study also shows that the percentage of intestinal parasites infection was higher during the autumn and spring seasons. Despite the increase in cultural and social awareness and the improvement of the living conditions of many families, the rate of intestinal parasites infection is still high, which requires more investigations.