The results of Enterobius vermicularis examination by cellotape anal swabs are presented in Table 2. After screening of 165 subjects, the infection rate of E. vermicularis was estimated at 20.6% (34 cases), comprising 29 male cases (25.7%) and 5 female cases (9.6%). The higher rates were observed mainly in their teens (23.7%) and in their twenties (21.4%). Considering that the presented data is the result of a single examination of cellotape anal swab, the positive rate could be higher if multiple examinations were performed. Previous studies reported that the rate of infection for children in orphanages and kindergartens were higher than those of children staying at home (Cho and Kang 1975; Kim et al., 1991). Oothuman et al. (1992) also described the prevalence rate of E. vemicularis in Malaysia as 9.2% among adults (aged 18-35) living in hostels on campus, which the rate was higher when compared to 1% of the medical students (aged 20-22). Thus, higher E. vemicularis infection of adults in these institutions may be attributed to a poor hygiene consciousness of the residents. Most surveys performed in Korea have described the prevalence rates of E. vermicularis for children under 10 years old (Park et al., 1974; Ryang, 1975; Chai et al., 1976), except the report of 822 ROK army soldiers showing a 19.8% infection rate (Im et al., 1972) and a study on teenagers (1.4%) and a group of people in their twenties (0.2% infection rate) (The Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Association of Health Republic of Korea, 1997). In this study, the prevalence of E. vemicularis in handicapped subjects in an institution was higher than those reported in similar age groups in Korea and appeared to be the highest prevalence reported in adults to date.

In conclusion, the handicapped people in the institution showed higher infection rates of protozoan parasites and E. vermicularis, possibly due to more accessibility to the infection.