Prevalence and Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Parasitosis Among the People of Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Gastrointestinal parasites play crucial roles in mortality and morbidity. They are most prevalent in rural areas. Parasitosis affects all age groups. Inchildren, it causes slow mental and physical growth, produces long-term effects, leads to a deficiency of vital nutrients, and hampers growth and development.This prospective study aimed to assess the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasitosis in stool samples among the people of Uttarakhand, especially of Dehradun,from January 2017 to January 2018. To identify intestinal parasites, 1528 samples were examined for consistency and the presence of any parasitic particlesusing the visual, direct wet mount, and concentration methods. The SPSS statistical program was used to conduct the statistical analysis. Differences with a pvalueof less than 0.05 were considered significant. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection rate was 32.85%. The prevalence of the parasites wasin the following order - Giardia lamblia (29.48%), Entamoeba histolytica (20.91%), Ascaris lumbricoides (18.52%), Hymenolepis nana (7.96%), Trichuris trichiura(7.56%), Taenia sp. (7.17%), Strongyloides stercoralis (5.97%), Ancylostoma duodenale (2.19%), and Enterobius vermicularis (0.19%). The chi-square test (χ2 – 30 andP-value = 0.224) was insignificant, while Levene’s test was significant (F = 10.08, P-value = 0.008) of A. duodenale in both genders. Parasitosis of high levels wasdetected among the children. Health education, personal hygiene, and safe drinking water would reduce infection. However, designing specific controlmeasures requires proper identification. The present study may prove helpful for developing such measures for Uttarakhand in general and Dehradun inparticular.