Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors of Intestinal Parasitic Infections among Egyptian Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

The global prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is continuously rising; however, little is known about intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) and IBD. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of IPIs among IBD patients through a case-control study and to correlate the positive cases to the sociodemographic risk factors of IPIs among the study groups. A one-year case-control study included patients with IBD (n = 125) and healthy controls (n = 125). The fecal samples were examined using classical parasitological methods for intestinal parasites, including, in vitro culture (for Blastocystis sp.) and immunochromatography (for Cryptosporidium/ Giardia/ Entamoeba). IBD patients had a significantly higher positivity rate of IPIs than the healthy controls (adjusted OR = 9.60, 95% CI: 4.51-20.41, P = 0.0001) with Blastocystis sp., Entamoeba dispar/histolytica, and Cryptosporidium sp. being highly significant in IBD patients. In addition to IBD, living in rural areas, low socioeconomic status, raw/contaminated food consumption, and age group >50 years were the significant risk factors for IPIs. In conclusion, our results support a possible association between IPIs and IBD.