Different parasitic infections detected in children with diabetes mellitus in Minia governorate, Egypt

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder that causes immunosuppression. Many parasites serve a crucial role as opportunistic pathogens, causing significant clinical problems in immunocompromised people. This case-control study was done to determine the prevalence of parasitic infection and associated risk factors among diabetic patients. Stool sample examination was done by different techniques and seroprevalence of IgG and IgM antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii ) was assessed for 100 diabetic children in addition to 100 healthy ones. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data to identify the risk factors for the association between T. gondii and diabetic cases. The commonest parasite, Blastocystis spp. (B. spp.), was detected in 38% of the diabetic group vs. 10% in the control group. The following parasites were recorded as follow, Cryptosporidium spp. (C. spp.) 36%, Entamoeba histolytica (E. histolytica) 27%, Cyclospora cayetanensis (C. cayetanensis) 6%, and only 3% of patients were positive for Giardia lamblia (G. lamblia) in diabetic patients vs. (13%, 22%, 0% and 0%) in control respectively. High percentage of patients with HbA1c (>11%) were positive for B. spp. and C. spp. in (68.4% and 73.7%) respectively compared to (65.5% and 50%) in patients with HbA1c (9-11%) and (14.5% and 16.4%) in patients with HbA1c (7-9%). Out of 100 serum samples, 6% were confirmed as IgG positive antibodies of T. gondii vs. 2% in control, while all patients were negative for IgM antibodies of T. gondii. There was significant difference regarding history of contact with cats.