Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine the incidence of intestinal parasites in preschool children in nursery.

Materials and method: Total of 95 children (47 male and 48 female) aged between 1-7 yr in 5 nursery centres in Elazığ city were participated.

Results: During the present study, intestinal parasites were found in 3 male (6.3%) and 5 female (10.6%) children's stool samples, i.e. total of 8 (8.4%) children. The species of the parasites were Blastocystis hominis in 5 samples and Giardia intestinalis in 3 samples. The parasites did not observe in cellophane tape method. Anxiety, thinness and abdominal pain are the main reasons for complaining among the children. However, there was no statistically correlation between these complaining and incidence of intestinal parasites (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The incidence of 8.4% of parasites, observed in our study groups, show that the struggle against the intestinal parasites is not in satisfactory level. Thus, we believe that, in addition family and primary school, nursery centre which gives preschool education has great importance for increasing general health knowledge and gaining personal hygiene habit.