Background: The epidemiological situation concerning the prevalence of the majority of intestinal parasites in Poland has not been investigated in recent years and therefore is not known. Information on the prevalence of nematodes and most of cestodes is acquired from the studies carried out in Polish research centres. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of intestinal parasites among Polish soldiers who served in harsh environmental conditions in Afghanistan and their families living in Poland. The relation between the rates of infections in military personnel and in their families in the context of the risk of importing intestinal parasites from Afghanistan to Poland was also analysed in this article.

Materials and methods: 264 families consisting of 803 persons took part in the study which was conducted in the period May 2011 – December 2012. Stool samples were subjected to parasitological examination in the Military Institute of Medicine, Poland. The tests were performed by means of three diagnostic methods (direct smear, decantation, flotation). The study population comprised 264 married soldiers and 539 civilians (soldiers’ wives and children) living permanently in urban areas in Poland.

Results: Intestinal parasites were diagnosed in 4/264 studied soldiers (1.5% infected with Ascaris lumbricoides, Giardia intestinalis), in 9/253 studied women (3.6% infected with A. lumbricoides, Hymenolepis nana, Taenia spp.) and in 5/286 children (1.7% infected with A. lumbricoides, G. intestinalis). There was no more than one infection per one household.

Conclusions: The occurrence of intestinal parasites among Polish soldiers shows the possibility of importing pathogens from the Third World countries. It also indicates, in the context of infected women and children, that the source of infection of parasites of the digestive tract can be present in Poland.