الفهرس 
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Abstract
Blastocystis hominis is an intestinal parasite found in humans and many animals. It is unicellular, proven to be a protozoan with a possible pathogenic potential. It has a worldwide distribution and the most common mode of transmission is the direct fecal-oral route. The present work aimed to study the association between Blastocystis hominis and its intensity of infection and diarrhoea in infants and preschool children from urban and rural areas in Alexandria. Also to study the ecological and demographic factors associated with this infection. The study sample included 600 children, aged less than sixty months divided into two groups: 1- Group I: included 300 cases suffering from diarrhoea. This group comprised 150 urban and 150 rural cases. Urban cases were obtained from El Shatby University Children’s hospital and rural cases from Abis out patients’ clinics. 2- Group II: comprised 300 non diarrhoeic controls including 150 children from urban areas obtained from El Shatby University Children’s hospital and 150 rural children obtained from Abis out patients’ clinics. Each child was subjected to the following: 1- Interviewing questionnaire: which was completed through an interview with the child’s mother about personal and socioeconomic data and clinical symptoms. 2- Nutritional assessment: according to Wellcome classification, based on the presence or absence of oedema and the body weight deficit, the children were classified as underweight, marasmic, kwashiorkor and marasmic kwashiorkor 3- Stool collection and laboratory investigation: A stool sample was collected from each child and subjected to: a- Macroscopic examination for consistency, presence of mucous and blood. b- Microscopic examination: A portion (one gm) of specimen was preserved in Merthiolate formaldehyde stain preservative solution and examined as a direct smear and as Merthiolate iodine formaldehyde (MIF) concentration technique. Also another portion (one gm) was preserved in 10 formaline, concentrated by formol ether concentration technique and stained by Ziehl-Neelsen staining technique for detection of intestinal coccidia. For diarrhoeic samples only, a smear was made and immediately fixed in methanol for five minutes and stained by trichrome staining technique. d- To estimate the intensity of Blastocystis hominis infection twenty high power fields (400x) were examined and organisms were counted in each field by direct smear. Then the intensity was graded as low if less than five organisms per twenty high power fields were counted and high if more than five organisms per twenty high power fields were counted. These methods revealed the following results: 1- Blastocystis hominis was the most prevalent protozoan infection among both cases and controls.