title: Prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica in humans.
abstract: The present survey was carried out to determine the prevalence of human amebiasis. During the study, 1360 fecal samples were examined from February 2007 to December 2007 at Nishtar Hospital, Multan. Out of 1360 hosts examined, 295 were infected with E. histolytica. The overall prevalence of E. histolytica was (21.69%). Relationship between sex and E. histolytica in humans showed that the infection of E. histolytica was more prevalent in male hosts (22.36%) as compared to female hosts (20.9%). However the difference was statistically non-significant (P>0.05). Results regarding the relationship between age and E. histolytica revealed that the parasite had highest prevalence (30.82%) in age group of 1 day to 15 years and lowest prevalence (17.34%) in age group of 31 to 45 years. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05).
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Zahida
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tasawar
authors.forename: Shabana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kausar
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Lashari
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004748:Entamoeba histolytica / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012727:Sex Characteristics