Intestinal parasitic infections: current prevalence and risk factors among schoolchildren in capital area of the Republic of Marshall Islands.

Intestinal parasitic infections: current prevalence and risk factors among schoolchildren in capital area of the Republic of Marshall Islands. Acta Trop. 2017 Aug 25;: Authors: Liao CW, Chuang TW, Huang YC, Chou CM, Chiang CL, Lee FP, Hsu YT, Lin JW, Briand K, Tu CY, Fan CK Abstract Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) among schoolchildren in Republic of Marshall Islands (RMI) largely remains unknown, thus investigation on IPIs status to establish the baseline data is urgently needed. This cross-sectional study intended to investigate the current IPIs status and associated risk factors among schoolchildren at capital of RMI. Single stool sample from 400 schoolchildren (207 boys and 193 girls) aged 9.73±2.50 yrs old was examined by employing merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde concentration method. Demographic characteristics, uncomfortable symptoms and risk factors were obtained by questionnaires investigation. The overall prevalence of IPIs in schoolchildren was 22.8% (91/400), of them 24.2% harbored at least 2 different parasites. Notably, the majority was infected by waterborne protozoan parasites (82.4%, 75/91). Nine different intestinal parasites have been identified, of which six were pathogenic including Hook worm, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, Entamoeba histolytica/dispar, Giardia intestinalis and Blastocystis hominis. Schoolchildren who ever complained dizziness or headache showed a significant higher prevalen...
Source: Acta Tropica - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Acta Trop Source Type: research