Prevalence of intestinal parasites in a cohort of HIV-infected patients from Antioquia province, Colombia: Intestinal parasites in HIV patients from Antioquia

Introduction: HIV infection is still a public health problem worldwide, and co-infections with other infectious agents, including intestinal parasites are of particular concern, mainly in developing countries, like Colombia. Objective: To conducte a cross-sectional research in patients attending an HIV care program in the province of Antioquia, given that intestinal prevalence studies on the HIV population are few in the country,. Material and methods: Stool samples from 192 patients were evaluated by direct wet mount and concentration; modified Ziehl Neelsen staining and agar plate culture. Univariate and correlation analyses were done to explore the association between socio-demographic, clinical characteristics and, parasitological data. Results: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites in HIV positive subjects was 29.2% (56/192; 95%CI: 22.8% to 35.6%), being Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/ moshkosvkii 13.0% (25/192; 95%CI: 8.2% to 17.8%), and Blastocystis  12.0% (23/192; 95%CI: 7.4% to 16.6%) the most frequent. Opportunistic parasites like Cryptosporidium spp. and Cystoisospora belli were less prevalent, each one with 0.5% of positive samples (1/192; 95%CI: 0.1% to 1.5%). Commensal protozoa were also detected, with a prevalence of  18.8% (36/192; 95%CI: 13.3% to 24.3%). Most of the individuals in the study had a controlled viral load and an LTCD4 count greater than 200 cel/µL. A small percentage (9.3%) had diarrhea. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression showed that only age and having pets had a significant association with intestinal parasites in the studied cohort. Conclusions: Our results confirm that the population evaluated is at high risk of intestinal parasite infection, which highlights the need to include routine screening for gastrointestinal parasites to  provide prompt treatment and reduce possible complications.