Giardia Found in 20% of Moroccan Children, Blastocystis in 64%

A study of 674 Moroccan children from rural and urban areas found that overall, 20% were infected with Giardia intestinalis and 64% with Blastocystis.  Blastocystis was found at the same prevalence in children from urban and rural schools.   Despite the high rate of parasitism, only 8% of rural children and 7% of urban children had diarrhea, and diarrhea in Blastocystis patients occurred in those co-infected with another parasite.  Researchers genotyped Giardia isolates from the children, and found that both Assemblage A (AII) and Assemblage B (BIII, BIV) were present, with the majority of isolates belonging to Assemblage BIV (73%).  The full free text of the study is available at the web site of the Parasite Journal.

Comments are closed.