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Background: Intestinal parasitoses are frequent in populations in tropical and subtropical areas, HIV infection has favoured an increase in the prevalence of some of these parasitoses . Both conditions concur in innate populations. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of the intestinal parasitosis in a penitentiary population from the Madrid area., Methods: On the basis of the data from the Laboratory of Clinical Microbiology in the Hospital General Penitenciario, patients with the diagnosis of intestinal parasitosis were retrospectively reviewed. The study period covered 29 months (from 1/8/91 to 31/12/93). Samples were taken from patients admitted to, and attended, in the outpatient area of this hospital in addition to those held in dependents prisons. Processing was done by direct macroscopic and microscopic visualization (400x) of the sediment obtained by the formol-ether concentration method (Ritchie). Modified Ziehl staining was carried out. Demographic, clinical-evolutive and microbiologic data of the patients were analyzed., Results: One thousand two hundred eighty-one samples corresponding to 1,033 patients were studied 131 (10.2%) positives corresponding to 96 (9.3%) patients were observed. 88.5% (n = 85) were males. The mean age was 31.2 years (CI 95%: 29.3-32.9). The patients were from Europe in 39.7% of the cases (Spain: 94%), Africa 28.9% and Latin America 28.9%. Twenty-five patients were HIV+ (46%) with a mean CD4 count of 160/mm3 (CI 95%: 65-255) and 29 were HIV-. Globally, the most frequently found parasites were uncinaria (22%), Giardia lamblia (21%) and Cryptosporidium parvum (20%). One case of intestinal capillariasis was diagnosed. Fifteen mixed parasitoses (15.6%) were observed and the most frequent association was Trichuris trichiura and uncinaria in 8 patients (5 HIV+ and 3 unknown HIV). Clinical manifestations were present in 63.7% (42/66) of the patients with diarrhea being the most frequent (25 cases). In patients in whom the clinical evolution could be evaluated, it was favorable in most of the cases except in those with Cryptosporidium parasitosis., Conclusions: Intestinal parasites are of relevance within a prison population, presenting some differences to the intestinal parasites observed in a general population. The most frequently observed parasite was uncinaria in HIV- patients and Cryptosporidium parvum in HIV+ patients. Mixed parasitosis was not infrequent (15.6%). 25% of the intestinal parasitosis are asymptomatic. When symptomatology does exist, diarrhea is the most common clinical manifestation. The clinical evolution is usually favourable with the exception of some cases of diarrhea by Cryptosporidium in severely immunosuppressed HIV+ patients.