Intestinal Parasites in Diabetes Mellitus Patients in the Limbe and Buea Municipalities, Cameroon
Intestinal parasites are an important cause of morbidity and mortality although they usually
create non-aggressive diseases and constitute a major public health problem in their
transmission from person to person, especially in developing countries where poor sanitary
conditions and lack of information result in the contamination of food and water sources with
a consequent continuance of parasite cycles.
Even in countries where adequate sanitation conditions and education excel, some
of these parasites play an important role in causing diseases in specific groups
such as immunocompromised individuals and young children.
About 340 parasites infect more than three billion people worldwide with varying morbidity and mortality.
They affect an estimated 3.5 billion persons and cause clinical
signs and symptoms in approximately 450 million.
The two main types of intestinal parasites are helminths and protozoa.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic non-communicable disease in which a person
has high blood glucose, either because the body does not produce enough insulin or because
cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced.
There are two types of diabetes mellitus: Type 1, Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (IDDM);
Type 2, Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM)
This high blood sugar produces the classical symptoms of polyuria, polydipsia and polyphagia.
Diabetes is one of the most frequent metabolic diseases and is
widely distributed in various populations.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces the world’s highest increase in type 2 Diabetes occasioned
by adaptation to western lifestyles and genetic pre-dispositions.
Diabetic patients have been reported to be immunocompromised.
Diabetes Res Open J. 2016; 2(1): 1-7. doi: 10.17140/DROJ-2-123
