Author

Abeer Al-kafri; Mohammad Taher Ismail

Published in

Journal of Laboratory Diagnosis, Volume 5, Issue 1, October 2008

Abstract

For the period between1998 and 2007, 4059 stool samples were investigated in our private laboratory by experts for screening the intestinal parasites. The prevalence of intestinal parasite infections in the stool samples showed a significant trend of reduction in the last years were positive samples calculated 221 in 1998 declining to only 48 in 2007.
This study aimed to show the large reduction of parasites’ prevalence in both urban and rural Damascus, draw laboratory workers’ attention to the importance of stool examination, and enlighten the possible wrong interpretation of stool examination when conducted by non-expert hands. We believe that waste water treatment plant Adraa played an important role in this reduction (although work started officially in this station since 1998). Also, Uncontrolled parasites’ treatment, where doctors are not properly counseled, has played an important part in this reduction (as humans are the only reservoir of such parasites); the effect of the normal biological reduction could be one of the reasons as well.

Link to read full paper

http://scla.org.sy/magazine/issues/5_1/243.html