Anaemia, iron deficiency and susceptibility to infection in children in sub‐Saharan Africa, guideline dilemmas

Abstract

Globally, anaemia, iron deficiency and infections are responsible for a majority of the morbidity and mortality that occurs among children. As iron is essential for erythropoiesis and the human immune system, as well as a crucial element for many pathogens, these three conditions often interact. This article considers the question -have the studies conducted so far unravelled the potential complex interaction between these factors sufficiently enough to be able to develop universally applicable guidelines about iron treatment in children? It is possible, however, that the area is too complex and diverse, with many sub-populations, and that not universal, but tailor-made guidelines are needed based on some agreed principles.

Food insecurity and anaemia risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Currently, anaemia is considered the most common nutritional problem in the world (41) . Food insecurity, through the causation of anaemia (13,21,30) , can lead to poor scholastic performance and cognitive impairment (41) and increase susceptibility to infection, morbidity and mortality in children (42) . Also, maternal anaemia can lead to poor pregnancy outcomes, including (34) Eicher-Miller et al (2009) (21) Osei et al (2010) (23) Campbell et al (2011) (24) Fischer et al (2014) (14) Pirkle et al (2014) (25) Shen et al (2015) (28) Lisbôa et al (2015) (26) Nguyen et al (2015) (27) Gubert et al (2016) (29) Jones et al (2016) (16) Weigel et al (2016) (32) Metallinos-Katsaras et al (2016) (13) Ghose et al (2016) (15) Habib et al (2016) (30) Nair et al (2016) (31) Demétrio et al (2017) (33) Overall (21) Park et al (2009) (22) Skalicky et al (2006) (20) Pirkle et al (2014) (25) Overall (I 2 = 0 .…”

Hibiscus sabdariffa Meal Improves Iron Status of Childbearing Age Women and Prevents Stunting in Their Toddlers in Northern Ghana

“…Worldwide, iron deficiency (ID) is the most common form of nutritional deficiency in children and childbearing age women [1,2,3,4]. In Ghana, iron deficiency and anemia are major problems [5,6,7,8,9,10], especially among women of reproductive age and children.…”

Ancient DNA of Rickettsia felis and Toxoplasma gondii implicated in the death of a hunter-gatherer boy from South Africa, 2,000 years ago

“…Our results provide insight into the most plausible range of pathogenic microbes implicated in the death of the boy from Ballito Bay (SI 9). Osteobiographic analysis (Pfeiffer et al, 2019) is consistent with the premise that various chronic and acute viral, bacterial and parasitic infections could have produced the skeletal signs of anaemia observed in the child (Jonker et al, 2017). Indications of cribra orbitalia are a symptom of marrow expansion caused by haemopoietic factors, and has been attributed to both malnutrition ( e .…”