en Public Health Public Health پژوهشي Original Article <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Background:</font></span></b><font color="#000000"> </font><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Despite continued and comprehensive planning of the world health organization (WHO), intestinal parasitic infections are a serious public problem in developing countries. Due to the high prevalence of cancers in Ardabil province and subsequently the high possibility of intestinal parasitic infections among the people, the aim of this study was to assess the frequency of intestinal parasites in patients with malignancy in this area.</font></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><font color="#000000"><b><span new="" times="">Methods: </span></b><span new="" times="">In this cross-sectional study, 100 fecal samples were collected from patients with cancer during February to September 2015. The specimens were examined for intestinal parasites using direct smear, formol-ethyl acetate concentration, agar plate culture and Ziel-Neelsen staining technique.</span></font></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Results:</font></span></b><font color="#000000"> </font><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">The overall frequency of intestinal parasitic infections in studied cancer patients was 10%. The infection rates of detected intestinal parasites were <i>Cryptosporidium</i></font><font color="#000000"> spp. oocyst 4%, </font><i><font color="#000000">Blastocystis hominis</font></i><font color="#000000"> 3%, </font><i><font color="#000000">Giardia lamblia</font></i><font color="#000000"> 2% and </font><i><font color="#000000">Taenia</font></i><font color="#000000"> spp. 1%.</font></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; unicode-bidi: embed; direction: ltr;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Conclusion: </font></span></b><span new="" times=""><font color="#000000">Despite the low frequency of intestinal parasites, there is a need to screen cancer patients for some important parasitic infections such as <i>Cryptosporidium</i></font><font color="#000000"> spp. and </font><i><font color="#000000">Strongiloides</font></i><font color="#000000"> </font><i><font color="#000000">stercoralis</font></i><font color="#000000"> because of irreparable effects of those parasites on thepatients and to increase awareness among clinicians regarding the occurrence of parasitic infections in these patients.</font></span></span></span></p> Intestinal parasites, Malignancy, Ardabil, Iran 118 124 http://jhehp.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-89-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Behnam Mohammadi-Ghalehbin b.mohammadi@arums.ac.ir 10031947532846009425 10031947532846009425 No Department of Parasitology, Mycology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran. Ali Pezeshki apezeshki@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009426 10031947532846009426 Yes Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Mohammad Hasan Kohansal kohansalhasan@zums.ac.ir 10031947532846009427 10031947532846009427 No Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran. Ghodsie Esmaeilnezhad gh.esmaeilnezhad@yahoo.com 10031947532846009428 10031947532846009428 No Department of Parasitology, Mycology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, Ardabil, Iran.