A Retrospective Study of the Prevalence of Intestinal Parasites in Mogadishu, Somalia for the Years 2018 to 2022

Determining the frequency of parasitic agents within the human population in a particular region is important for the development of preventive interventions and treatment strategies. This study, aimed to determine the 5-year prevalence of intestinal parasites in patients admitted to the Microbiology laboratory of a tertiary hospital in Somalia. Intestinal parasites; Types of patients, age and sex of the patients, and the distribution by years were studied. Fecal samples were collected in fecal containers. Stool samples were examined using wet preparation, native lugol and trichrome staining methods. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS V23 software and a P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. One or more parasites were detected in 6766 of 56,824 stool samples examined. It was observed that Giardia lamblia had a higher prevalence than other parasites (60.84%) in a five-year period. Entamoeba histolytica (33.07%) was in second rank and Ascaris lumbricoides (3.18%) was in third rank according to their prevalence. When the distribution of the parasite population by gender was evaluated; no statistically significant difference was found (p = 0.235). When the frequency of parasites was evaluated according to age groups, it was seen that the prevalence of parasites between the ages of 0–15 was higher (45.5%) compared to other age groups. A statistically significant difference was found between the distribution of parasite groups according to age groups (p < 0.001). The fact that the parasite rate we found in our study was 11.9% showed that parasitic diseases continue to be an important health problem that needs to be combated in our region. Developing effective treatment protocols is as important as taking preventive measures to combat infectious diseases caused by parasites.