Survey on parasitic and fungal agents of Hospital cockroaches in Kashan-2002

Considering the roles of cockroaches in transmission and distribution of pathogen agents, their prevalence and lack of data on this kind of parasitic and fungal infections in this region, this study was carried out to determine the cockroaches species and their parasitic and fungal agents at the Hospitals of Kashan, Iran in 2002. This descriptive study was performed on 158 samples of cockroaches caught from three major medical centers. Species of cockroaches, their parasitic and fungal infections, external and internal levels of infection and isolated parasitic and fungal species were determined. Prevalent infection in cockroaches was determined and their exact amount was estimated. From 158 cockroaches, 85 (53.8%) were American and 73 (46.2%) were German. 58 (36.7%) of cockroaches had parasitic infection. The prevalence of human intestinal parasites in American and German cockroaches was 21.5% and 15.2%, respectively. Blastosystis huminis and Ascaris lumbricoides had maximum and minimum prevalences (32.3% and 3.2%), respectively. Of 158 Hospital cockroaches studied, 101 (63.9%) had fungal contamination. The prevalence of fungal agents in American and German cockroaches was 41.1% and 22.8%, respectively. Aspegillus had maximum (27.3%) and Epicocum and Curvularia had minimum prevalences (0.8%) among fungi observed. Two cases of Candida albicans were separated from American cockroaches. Cockroaches of Naghavi Hospital had more infection (43.9% parasitic and 80.7% fungi infection) than those of other Hospitals. Parasitic and fungal infection of cockroaches is a worriment problem at Kashan Hospitals. Therefore further studies are suggested to reduce the cockroaches and their parasitic and fungal infection.