Serum versus Fecal Neopterin Levels in Children with Intestinal Parasitosis

Background: Intestinal Parasitic diseases are very well-known in the entire world. In humans, neopterin is considered an indicator of immune activation and inflammation.The aim of this work is to compare serum and fecal neopterin levels and to evaluate clinical usefulness of determination of fecal neopterin level in children with intestinal parasitic infections.Methods: Forty four pediatric patients with intestinal parasitic infections were included in this study and twenty healthy children without the symptoms of an acute or chronic infection were taken as control. Serum and fecal neopterin levels were determined by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay.Results: Serum neopterin level was significantly decreased but fecal neopterin level was highly significantly increased in infected patients compared to healthy controls (p=0.030, u003c0.001 respectively). Fecal neopterin was significantly associated with severity of symptoms and Entameba histolytica load (pu003c0.001 for each). Significant differences were found between high and low groups regarding severity of symptoms, and E.histolytica load.Conclusion: Fecal neopterin is more accurate than serum neopterin and it is a sensitive measure of intestinal inflammation in case of parasitic infection.