Parasitic Pathogens Associated with Diarrhoea in Mombasa, Kenya

A microscopic examination of a faecal specimens was designed to identify the enteropathogenic parasites in the diarrhoeal stool specimens in which neither enteropathogenic bacteria nor rotavirus was isolated in Caost Provincial General Hospital, Mombasa, Kenya. The parasites incriminated as causes of diarrhoea were Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm and Ascaris lumbricoides. The cysts and ova of these parasites, however, were present with equal frequency in diarrhoeal, semi-formed and formed stool specimens, except the trophozoites of E. histolytica. The role of parasites in causation of diarrhoea is difficult to evaluate by the routine stool examination for parasites