CORRELATIONS AND IL6 LEVEL AMONG SOME BLASTOCYSTIS HOMINIS INFECTED ADOLESCENTS IN FAYOUM GOVERNORATE

Mohamed, Faten Ahmed Mahmoud; EL-NAGGAR, AYA A. H.

doi:10.21608/jesp.2025.447402

CORRELATIONS AND IL6 LEVEL AMONG SOME BLASTOCYSTIS HOMINIS INFECTED ADOLESCENTS IN FAYOUM GOVERNORATE

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Egypt.

² Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Egypt

10.21608/jesp.2025.447402

Abstract

Blastocystis is a global protozoan affects the gastrointestinal tract of man and animals. It is
frequently observed in human stool samples. The study evaluated Blastocystis hominis in 110
stool samples by Iodine smears, Trichrome staining, and Jones’ culture, between IL6 and infec
tion. Microscopic smears and Trichrome staining detected 21and 35 positive cases, with sensi
tivity of 50%, and 71.43% and specificity of 100% and 92.65% respectively. Culture method,
used as diagnostic test identified more number of positive cases (42 cases). A significant asso
ciation was found between infection and the presence of pets (p=0.03). Diarrhea (71.4%;
p=0.01), flatulence (45.2%; p=0.01), vomiting (42.9%; p=0.002), and nausea (40.5%; p=0.001)
were the patients' symptoms. The IL-6 concentration in stool and plasma positive samples was
significantly elevated in patients compared to negative control (P <0.001). These results indi
cating that systemic inflammation is related to Blastocystis infection and highlighted the im
portance of the complementary use of microscopy, Trichrome stain, and culture techniques in
the detection of Blastocystis infection.

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