Prevalence and risk factors of acquiring Strongyloides stercoralis infection among patients attending a tertiary hospital in Thailand

Abstract

Objectives:

We aimed to determine the prevalence and risk factors for Strongyloides stercoralis infection in adult patients attending Siriraj Hospital, a tertiary hospital in Thailand.

Methods:

A case–control study was carried out between July 2008 and April 2010. Case and control were identified from 6022 patients for whom results of faecal examination were available. A case was a patient who had S. stercoralis larva detected from faecal examination. Control was randomly selected from patients without S. stercoralis larvae detected in three consecutive faecal examinations. The proportion of control to case was 2 : 1. Demographic and clinical data for the day of diagnosis and retrospectively up to 15 days preceding the date of faecal examination were reviewed from their medical records.

Results:

Overall, 149 (2.47%) patients had S. stercoralis larvae positive. There were 105 males (70.5%), with the mean (SD) age of 53.9 (17.2) years. A total of 300 controls were selected. Male gender (odds ratio (OR)  =  2.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.78–4.27)), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (OR  =  3.23, 95% CI 1.43–7.29), and eosinophilia (OR  =  1.81, 95% CI 1.33–2.47) were found to be independent risk factors associated with S. stercoralis infection in this setting. Corticosteroid or other immunosuppressive treatment, and other concomitant illnesses were not associated with increased risk of S. stercoralis infection.

Conclusion:

In this setting, strongyloidiasis was seen more often in male patients with eosinophilia and with HIV infection. Prevention of fatal complication caused by S. stercoralis by regular faecal examination, or serology for early detection and treatment of undiagnosed S. stercoralis infection, is warranted in these high-risk patients.

Keywords:

• Strongyloides
• Risk factors
• HIV

Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the grant from Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand. The funding agency had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

The authors would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and medical technologists of Department of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Mahidol University for their cooperation and help during the study period.