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.