BackgroundOver the last few years, epidemiological studies have shown that infection with Helicobacter pylori has a major effect on micronutrient deficiency as well as on adverse pregnancy outcomes. Importantly, there are gaps in understanding the linkage of H. pylori infection with micronutrients deficiency in pregnant women.ObjectiveWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the association between H. pylori infection and micronutrient deficiencies in pregnant women.MethodsA systematic literature search was conducted for relevant articles using PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus database from inception to March 2020. The OR with 95% CIs was determined by meta-analysis of data extracted from the selected studies.ResultsFrom 2384 primary articles, 6 studies were selected for systematic reviews and 4 studies distinctively (with 1274 participants: 553 cases and 721 controls) were selected for meta-analysis. The meta-analysed fixed effect model estimated the odds of having H. pylori infection was not significantly higher among pregnant women with micronutrient deficiencies than those without deficiencies (OR=1.12, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.42, p=0.37). In the subgroup analysis, no correlation was found between H. pylori infection and vitamin B12 (OR=0.74, 95% CI 0.45 to 1.21, p=0.22), folate (OR=1.07, 95% CI 0.73 to 1.58, p=0.73), and ferritin (OR=0.81, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.31, p=0.4). However, a positive correlation was found between iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) and H. pylori infection (OR=16.23, 95% CI 4.19 to 62.93, p<0.0001) during pregnancy.ConclusionH. pylori infection is associated with increased risk of IDA but not with deficiency of other micronutrients in pregnancy.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019135683.

The study was conducted to identify the protozoan parasites in a freshwater indigenous air breathing fish, Heteropneustes fossilis (Bloch, 1794). The host fish was collected during mid of the April 2018 to end of the March 2019 from freshwater bodies of Mymensingh, Kishoregonj, Faridpur, Jashore, Manikganj and Bogura districts of Bangladesh. Three species of phylum myxozoa namely Henneguya singhi, Henneguya qadrii, Henneguya mystusia, one species of phylum ciliophora namely Trichodina siddiquae and two species of phylum mastigophora namely Trypanosoma singhii and Piscinoodium pillulare were identified in H. fossilis. The parasites of all infected hostswere observed in gill, body slime and blood, however gillswere commonly infected by parasites rather than body slime and blood. Three species of parasite Piscinoodium pillulare, Henneguya qadrii and Henneguya mystusia were first recorded in this host fish and novel locality record in Bangladesh. H. fossilis was found to be infected over the three major (p<0.05) (summer, rainy and winter) seasons and demonstrated a strong significant association (P0<05) with season during the study period. In H. fossilis, highest variety and highest number of parasites were found in winter season, prevalence and intensity was found 78.31% and 5.17 respectively. Lowest prevalence and intensity were found in rainy season respectively 45.87 and 4.72. Among all the parasites Henneguya singhi was common in all the three seasons and its rate of infection was found elevated in summer (20.69%) and rainy season (19.27%). In H. fossilis prevalence of female fish were highest in all the three seasons, summer (55.22%), rainy (50.75%) and winter (85.57%) than their male counterparts 38.76%, 38.09% and 68.12%, respectively. Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 32(1): 21-32, 2023 (January)