Nutritional status, intestinal parasite infection and allergy among school children in Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

BackgroundParasitic infections have been shown to have deleterious effects on host nutritional status. In addition, although helmintic infection can modulate the host inflammatory response directed against the parasite, a causal association between helminths and allergy remains uncertain. The present study was therefore designed to evaluate the relationship between nutritional status, parasite infection and prevalence of allergy among school children.MethodsA cross sectional study was performed involving school children in two elementary schools in Gondar, Ethiopia. Nutritional status of these children was determined using anthropometric parameters (weight-for-age, height-for-age and BMI-for-age). Epi-Info software was used to calculate z-scores. Stool samples were examined using standard parasitological procedures. The serum IgE levels were quantified by total IgE ELISA kit following the manufacturer’s instruction.ResultA total of 405 children (with mean age of 12.09.1 ± 2.54 years) completed a self-administered allergy questionnaire and provided stool samples for analysis. Overall prevalence of underweight, stunting and thinness/wasting was 15.1%, 25.2%, 8.9%, respectively. Of the total, 22.7% were found to be positive for intestinal parasites. The most prevalent intestinal parasite detected was Ascaris lumbricoides (31/405, 7.6%). There was no statistically significant association between prevalence of malnutrition and the prevalence of parasitic infections. Median total serum IgE level was 344 IU/ml (IQR 117–2076, n = 80) and 610 IU/ml (143–1833, n = 20), respectively, in children without and with intestinal parasite infection (Z = −0.198, P > 0.8). The prevalence of self reported allergy among the subset was 8%. IgE concentration was not associated either with the presence of parasitic infection or history of allergy.ConclusionThe prevalence of malnutrition, intestinal parasitism and allergy was not negligible in this population. In addition, there was no significant association between the prevalence of allergy and their nutritional status, and parasite infection. Further research prospective observational and intervention studies are required to address the question of causality between nutritional factors, parasites, and allergy.

Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infections in St. Marry Hospital, Axum, Northern Ethiopia: A Retrospective Study

“…In other studies also E. histolytica and G. lambila were the commonly detected protozoan parasites [2,[10][11][12][13]. With regard to helminth parasites, in contrast to our study A. lumbricoides [9][10][11][12] was the commonest parasite in other studies. In some other studies H. nana [2,14] and T. trichiura [13] were the commonly detected intestinal helminthes.…”

“…Studies from different part of Ethiopia [2,5,[9][10][11][12] and outside Ethiopia [4,7] reported a prevalence of 22.7-79.8%. There was higher prevalence in this study compared to studies conducted in India and Nepal [4,7].…”

“…The transmission mode of intestinal parasites are consumption of contaminated food and water, skin penetration and through feco-oral contact from person to person [6,7]. Socioeconomic conditions, education, sanitation practices and presence of domestic animals in the home are some of the factors which determine the prevalence of intestinal parasite [8,9]. In Ethiopia intestinal parasites are widely distributed largely due to lack of environmental and personal sanitation, contamination of food and drinking water resulted from open defecation around the settlement and lack of awareness of simple health promotion practices [5,[10][11][12].…”

Investigation of Factors Affecting Frequency of Intestinal Parasites in Primary School Students in an Urban Region in Turkey

“…In a research from Ethiopia, the nutritional status of primary school pupils was classified according to their BMI and z-score and the prevalence of intestinal parasites was found to be higher among those with a poor nutritional status (29). Similar results were observed in the present study.…”

The Impact of Nutrition, Helminth Infection, and Lifestyle on Elementary School Student’s Achievement

“…This is different from two previous studies. Hookworm is found to be the highest parasitic infections in Africa, and Trichuris triciura is the highest in Kalimantan [11,12,13,14,15]. Table 2 shows statistically significant difference between positive and negative intestinal parasitic infection group on student's achievement (p = 0.036).…”