Physician Perception and Diagnosis of Intestinal Parasitic Infections among Patients with Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Ghana

Table 2

Characteristics of clinical practice of physicians.

Characteristics	Frequency	%
Frequency of encounter of patients with GI symptoms
Often	156	84.8
Rarely	27	14.7
Not at all	1	0.5
No. of patients seen in the past 7 days
>7	55	29.9
5-7	34	18.5
1-4	75	40.7
None	20	10.9
Common symptoms patients presented
Vomiting (V)	3	1.6
Diarrhoea (D)	23	12.5
Constipation (C)	8	4.3
Anorexia (A)	6	3.2
Nausea (N)	4	2.2
Abdominal pain (AP)	19	10.3
D & A	4	2.2
D & AP	5	2.7
V & D	14	7.6
V, D & AP	98	53.3
Category of patients with symptoms increasing suspicion of intestinal parasitic infections
	47	25.5
	40	21.7
Pregnant women	5	2.7
Elderly	3	1.6
HIV	6	3.2
Child+HIV	36	19.7
Child+pregnant+HIV	28	15.2
Elderly+pregnant+child	11	6
Was IPI considered in the last patient with GI symptoms?
Yes	78	42.4
No	106	57.6
Confirm diagnosis using stool investigation in the last patient seen
Yes	48	26.1
No	136	73.9
Frequency of stool R/E request
Always	26	14.1
Often	16	8.7
Most times	10	5.4
Sometimes	88	47.8
Rarely	40	21.7
Not at all	4	2.2
Criteria for giving anthelminthic
Symptoms	89	48.3
Stool R/E	23	12.5
Common parasite in locality	15	8.2
Symptoms+stool R/E	57	40
Drug of choice for intestinal parasite
Albendazole/mebendazole	175	95.1
Metronidazole	4	2.2
Praziquantel	1	0.5
None	4	2.2
Antibiotics of choice for gastrointestinal symptoms
Ciprofloxacin	18	9.8
Metronidazole	33	17.9
Amoxicillin	2	1.1
Cefuroxime	3	1.6
Ceftriaxone	2	1.1
Tetracycline	1	0.5
Doxycycline	1	0.5
Cipro+metronidazole	120	65.2
Is intestinal parasite a burden in the country?
Yes	138	75
No	46	25

Data are represented as numbers (%) of physicians.