Intestinal parasitic and bacterial infections among housemaids in Hail, Saudi Arabia

Parasitic and bacterial infection is common throughout the 
developing countries of the world. However, housemaids 
originated from those developing countries are considered a 
possible source of infection for numerous intestinal parasites as 
well as other enteropathogenic infections. A total of 100 stool 
samples were collected from housemaids originated from 
different countries as Ethiopia, Srilanka, Indonesia and 
Philippines who visited Hail General Hospital, Saudia Arabia 
(KSA) during a period from November, 2017 to April, 2018. 
Each stool sample was examined to detect intestinal parasites 
using routine parasitological techniques. In addition, standard 
cultures and biochemical techniques were used for the isolation 
and identification of pathogenic bacteria. 
The results revealed that the prevalence rate of intestinal 
protozoa was 46%. Among those, the infection rates of Giardia
lamblia, Cryptosporidium species Entamoeba histolytica and 
Entamoeba coli were 12%, 10%, 16% and 8 % respectively. 
Furthermore, four species of helminthes were detected which the 
infection rates as follows, Ascaris lumbricoides (6%), Entrobius 
vermicularis (4%), Ancylostoma duodenalis (4%) and Taenia sp. 
(5%). On the other hand, 49 % of examined housmaids were 
positive for bacterial pathogens. As the obtained data revealed 
that Clostridium difficile were the major bacterial pathogen 
isolated from stool samples (18%) mostly from Srilanka 
housmaids followed by Enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC) (12%) 
most cases were from Indonesia and Ethiopia. While, the 
infection rates of Vibrio vulnificus, Bacillus cereus, 
Campylobacter coli and Aeromonas hydrophila were 10%, 6%, 
2% and 1% respectively. The study was the first study 
highlighting that the intestinal parasitic and bacterial infections 
are still an important public health problem among housemaids 
in Northwestern Saudi Arabia. Therefore, more investigations 
are required to be conducted on a larger scale.