title: Prevalence and risk factors of intestinal protozoan infections: a population-based study in rural areas of Boyer-Ahmad district, Southwestern Iran.
abstract: Parasitic infections are still a significant health problem in rural areas in developing countries including Iran. There is no recent population-based data about the prevalence of human intestinal parasites in most rural areas of Iran. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of intestinal protozoan infection in inhabitants of rural areas of Boyer-Ahmad district, Southwestern Iran.
  
  
  
  A total of 1025 stool samples were collected from the inhabitant of 50 randomly selected villages in Boyer-Ahmad Township. The stool samples were evaluated by parasitological methods including, direct wet-mounting, formalin ethyl acetate concentration, zinc sulfate floatation, and Trichrome permanent stain for detection of protozoan infections. Diarrheic samples were further evaluated with a modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining method for detection of coccidian parasites.
  
  
  
  The prevalence of both pathogenic and nonpathogenic intestinal parasites in the population was 37.5% (385 out of 1025 cases), some individual with multiple infections. Giardia lamblia was detected in 179 (17.46%), Blastocystis hominis in 182 (17.76%), Entamoeba histolytica/dispar in 9 (0.87%), Endolimax nana in 216 (21.07%), Entamoeba coli in 151 (14.73%), Ioedamoeba butschlii in 45 (4.39%), Chillomastix mesnili in 22 (2.14%), Trichomonas hominis in 2 (0.19%) and Dientamoeba fragillis in 2 (0.19%) of cases. Multivariate logistic regression revealed significant associations between protozoan infection (pathogenic protozoa) and contact with animals (OR yes/no = 2.22, p < 0.001) and educational status (OR higher/illiterate = 0.40, P = 0.01).
  
  
  
  Findings of this study demonstrated that protozoan infection rate in rural areas of southwestern Iran is still high and remained as a challenging health problem in these areas.
authors.affiliation: Basic Sciences in Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.|Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Bahador
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sarkari
authors.affiliation: Basic Sciences in Infectious Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ghasem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Hossein
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Motazedian
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fararouei
authors.affiliation: Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran. amoshfea@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Abdolali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moshfe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011528:Protozoan Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Prevalence; Protozoan infections; Southwestern Iran