title: Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infections among Mentally Disabled Children and Adults of Urmia, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The prevalence of intestinal parasites infection in institutions for mental retardation of Urmia City, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive - cross sectional study was carried out in institutions of mentally retarded patients of Urmia city in 2007-2008. Fecal samples of 225 less than 29 year old mentally disabled individuals were examined using direct smear, formalin - ether concentration. Beside their scotch tape samples were observed for Enterobius eggs. Statistical evaluation was performed by SPSS 10.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 225 mentally retarded persons, 118(52.4%) and 107(47.6%) were female and male. The overall prevalence of infection was 20.4% and that of male, and female were 20.5% and 20.3%, respectively. 17.3% of examined individuals had protozoa infection and 3.1% showed Enterobius vermicularis eggs. The infection rates of detected intestinal protozoa were Entamoeba coli 9.7%, Giardia lamblia 6.2%, Iodoamoeba butschlii 5.7%, Blastocystis hominis 4%, and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar 0.4%. Forty percent of 1-5 year, 22.8% of 6-14 year, 22.2% of 15-18 year, and 16.8% of more than 18-year age groups, had positive results in their tests. According to IQ test results, 23.8% of less than 25 score group, 19.6% of 25-50, 17.2% of 50-75, and 40% of 75-90 groups were infected.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More efforts for increasing sanitation level and prompt diagnosis and treatment of infected persons in these institutions are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Of Parasitology & Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
authors.forename: Kh Hazrati
authors.initials: KhH
authors.lastname: Tappeh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mohammadzadeh
authors.forename: R Nejad
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Rahim
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barazesh
authors.forename: Sh
authors.initials: Sh
authors.lastname: Khashaveh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Taherkhani