April, 2018 2018; Vol2; Issue4 http://iamresearcher.online To Cite This Article: Raida S. Yahya, Soha I. Awad. Serum versus Fecal Neopterin Levels in Children with Intestinal Parasitosis. International Annals of Medicine. 2018;2(4). https://doi.org/10.24087/IAM.2018.2.4.445 Serum versus Fecal Neopterin Levels in Children with Intestinal Parasitosis Raida S. Yahya 1 , Soha I. Awad 2 1 Children Hospital, 2 Parasitology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt Corresponding Author: Prof. Raida Said Yahya yahyaraida@hotmail.com ABSTRACT 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, <0.001 respectively). Fecal neopterin was significantly associated with severity of symptoms and Entameba histolytica load (p<0.001 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. Keywords: neopterin, intestinal parasitosis, fecal, serum, children 1. INTRODUCTION Intestinal parasitic contaminations are widely recognized. About 3.5 billion people are estimated to be affected while 450 million are evaluated to be ill because of these infections, with taking in consideration that the majority of the above mentioned numbers are children [1]. The expansion is high in developing countries, probably not only due to the poor sanitary conditions and improper personal hygiene, but also due to poverty, illiteracy, hot and humid weather conditions and contaminated water [2]. Despite that symptomless intestinal parasitosis is the most common worldwide, many suffer from diarrheal disease which is the second leading cause of death in young children. Many authors argue that severity of disease is dependent on parasites burden however it is well known that even those with moderate intensity of infection is linked to growth stunting and low cognition compared to non-infected children. Approximately 39 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) is associated with enteric parasitic infections, thus representing a major global and economic burden [3]. So, there is a need for a quick and sensitive method to explore etiopathenic mechanism of a parasitic disease and determine whether treatment is needed or not [4]. The pteridine neopterin was