Investigation of infectious status of Blastocystis hominis in 1 354 outpatients.

Objective To investigate infectious status of Blastocystis hominis in outpatients in the Peptic Internal Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University and its characteristics. Methods The diarrheic history, including present past of illness, individual hygienic habits, sanitary condition of living environment, et al. were surveyed. Fresh stools was collected from diarrhea patients with sanitary boxes and examined with direct wet-mount and iodine staining methods. The suspected specimens examined under oil-immersed microscope for observation of the morphology and size of t Blastocystis hominis after fixed and trichromatically stained. Results Totally 1354 fetal specimens were examined the positive rate of Blastocystis hominis was 18.54%. The infection rates in female and males were 18.12% and 19.18%, respectively, showing no significant difference between two sexes (P0.05). mixed infection with other parasites were also observed and 73.8% co-infected with liver fluke). Vacuolar forms were the most common in the fetal specimens. Infective peaks were in summer and autumn and high infection occurred to the age group of 21～50 years. Conclusion Blastocystis hominis is the principal intestinal parasite resulting in diarrhea in GuangXi and responsible for intermittent abdominal pain, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms in the patients. Mixed infection of Blastocystis hominis with liver fluke is a marked characteristic in Guangxi Region.