Prevalence of Intestinal Protozoan Infections and the Associated Risk Factors among Children in Bushenyi District, Western Uganda

Abstract

Methodology: A total of 200 children aged below one year to 12 years were enrolled. Stool samples were collected and analyzed according to the established standard methods. Results: Of the 200 children enrolled, 73(36.5%); CI = 0.000-0.015, had intestinal protozoan infections. The prevalence of Giardia lamblia was the highest (16%) followed by Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (13%) compared to Cryptosporidium spp (4%) and Cyclospora spp (3.5%).The highest prevalence was in the age group 1-4 years (26.8%, OR; 2.601, P = .015), mothers with no formal education (44.4%, OR; 3.240, P = .002) and those with primary level education (23.5%, OR; 1.812,P = .027) were significantly associated with intestinal protozoan infections. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of infections between the females (22.3%) and males (16.5%). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of intestinal protozoan infections was 73(36.5%), Giardia lamblia (16%) was the most prevalent intestinal protozoan infection in the study. The intestinal protozoan infections were most prevalent among children aged 1-4 years whose mothers had no formal education. Prevention strategies need to be tailored to the respective levels of education.

Prevalence of Intestinal Protozoa and Soil Transmitted Helminths Infections among School Children in Jaragedo Town, South Gondar Zone of Ethiopia

“…In the present study, the second leading intestinal parasite was G. lamblia (17.5%), which corroborated results from Tanzania (16.4%) [22] and Uganda (16.0%) [38]. It was much lower than reports from Delgi, North Gondar, Ethiopia (16.4%) [35], Turkey (47.9%) [39], Sudan (46.9%) [14], and Nepal (40.5%) [17].…”

Intestinal parasites in Meche community in relation to their socio-economic status

“…Gender-wise parasitic infection rate was found slightly more common in females (32.47%) than in males (21.91%) which agrees with the findings [35,48]. Slightly higher prevalence of parasites in female than in males was reported from, children in Pokhara, elsewhere in Nepal, Chitwan, Nepal [55], Kanti children Hospital Kathmandu [56], Bhusenyi district, Western, Uganda [57] and African urban slum in Nigeria and North-west, Saudi Arabia [58]. The risk factors for high prevalence of parasites among females include lower educational status, their involvement in child care as well as other household works [52] and consuming raw vegetables.…”

Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infection and Associated Factors Among HAART Initiated Children Attending at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia

“…There was a high prevalence of both the helminths and the protozoan intestinal parasitic infestation, which is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among HIVinfected children. 1,22 The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites among HAART experienced children in the present study was 22.4% (95% CI=17-28%). This is in accordance with prevalences of 24.5% in the University of Gondar hospital, Ethiopia, 23 19.2% in Nigeria, 24 and 24.6% in Kinshasa.…”

“…30 The prevalence of cryptosporidium species infection is 3.5% in this study, comparable with a previous study among school-aged children in Western Uganda (4%). 22 In the fact, Cryptosporidium species were considered as a significant pathogen and are more frequent in children with HIV who had persistent and chronic diarrhea. The result in this study showed less frequency as compared to the finding reported in Mozambique (12%) among diarrheic hospitalized children.…”