RESEARCH ARTICLE
Intestinal Parasitic Infections in Foreigners Detected by Stool Examination in Taiwan
Meng-Hsuan Hsieh1, Ya-Yun Lin1, Yu-Kuei Hsu1, Jeng-Fu Yang1, Yu-Chun Hsu1, Wu-Cheng Chen1, Chia-Yen Dai1, 2, Ming-Lung Yu1, 2, 4, Chi-Kung Ho*, 3, 5
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 135
Last Page: 141
Publisher ID: TOIDJ-5-135
DOI: 10.2174/1874279301105010135
Article History:
Received Date: 27/8/2010Revision Received Date: 9/12/2010
Acceptance Date: 30/12/2010
Electronic publication date: 13/12/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Many foreigners enter Taiwan for the purpose of marriage or study, or as dependants or relatives of Taiwanese citizens. The aim of this study was to investigate the proportions of these immigrants infected with intestinal parasites. A total of 2875 foreigners from 39 countries or regions underwent stool examination in our hospital within the study period, and the merthiolate iodine formaldehyde method was used to diagnose intestinal parasite infections. In total, 214 foreigners (7.4%) were found to be infected, and hookworm was identified as the most prevalent intestinal parasite (2.92%). Infection was most prevalent in the Vietnamese foreigners (46.3%), followed by the Chinese (38.8%), and was more prevalent in females (92.3%) than in males. Among the intestinal parasites identified, hookworm (2.92%), Trichuris trichiura (1.18%), and Blastocystis hominis (1.14%) were the three most prevalent. Infection was most prevalent in the foreign brides group (11.9 %), hookworm and Trichuris trichiura being the two most common species of intestinal parasite in the foreign brides and foreign dependants/relatives of Taiwanese citizens, while the proportion of foreign students infected was lower. Most foreigners enter Taiwan for the purpose of marriage or study, or as dependants/relatives of Taiwanese citizens, and originate from countries or regions in which public health is poorer than in Taiwan. Therefore, close monitoring and examination of these foreigners continue to be indicated.