Prevalence of Soil Transmitted Helminthes (STH) Infection among Children Aged 2-17 Years in Urban and Rural Areas of Dhaka District in Bangladesh

Abstract

A multi-staged cr oss sectional study was conducted among childr en aged 2 -17 year s to assess the level of soil tr ansmitted helminthes (ST H ) infections and its r elation to socio-demogr aphic char acter istics among them. T wo thousand childr en wer e r andomly selected fr om two r ur al and four differ ent communities of ur ban ar eas of Dhaka distr ict since November 2009 to J une 2010. F our differ ent communities classified as higher , medium, poor er and slum/ low socio-economic gr oups fr om ur ban ar eas wer e selected on the basis of their place of r esidence with differ ent socio-economic status. Ur ban study subjects wer e again sub gr ouped into upper (higher and medium socio-economic) and lower (poor er and slum/low socio-economic) classes. Stool specimens of the r espondents wer e collected and tested at the Par asitology depar tment of I E DC R , using the K ato-katz faecal technique for identification of helminthes eggs following their mor phology (A . lumbr icoides, T tr ichiur a, and A . duodenale), and lar val stage (S. ster cor alis). A bout 32.15% study population har bor ed at least one of the four helminthes species. B aseline pr evalence of infections and mean par asite loads for A scar is lumbr icoides wer e 40.61% and 600.80 e/g, for T r ichur is tr ichiur a 30.42% and 206.11e/g, and for A . duodenale 6.80% and 78.75 e/g. T hr ee childr en (0.49% ) wer e positive for Str ongyloides ster cor alis. Single infection of 78.32 % and double infection of 21.68 % wer e r ecor ded. Single infection of A . lumbr icoides (40.61% ) and T tr ichiur a (30.42% ) and double infection of A . lumbr icoides -T tr ichiur a (18.61 % ) wer e mor e pr evalent. T he pr evalence of ST H infection was 25.47 % and 38.68 % for r ur al and ur ban ar eas r espectively (P <.001). A mong ur ban study subjects, the distr ibution of ST H infection was 0.0 % in the higher (living in higher socioeconomic ar eas) (only 3 samples could be collected), 26.75 % in medium (living in medium socio-economic ar eas), 45.95 % in poor er and 50.54 % in slum/low socio-economic gr oups. Significantly higher number of ST H infection was obser ved among lower than that in upper socio-economic classes (P <.001). T hese r esults suggest that ST H infections r emain a ser ious health pr oblem among childr en in B angladesh and need appr opr iate pr evention and contr ol measur es.K ey wor ds: Pr evalence, ST H , childr en, par asite load, ur ban and r ur al ar eas, K ato-katz technique.

Association between the socioeconomic determinants and soil-transmitted helminthiasis among school-going children in a rural area of Haryana

“…The sex wise association with Helminthic infection was found to be statistically nonsignificant (p value = 0.908). Similar findings were reported in Dhaka, Bangladesh by Banu S. S. et al [ 7 ] and in Nigeria by Saka MI et al [ 8 ] The present study found out that the age and caste wise association with helminthes was statistically significant (p value = 0.005). Kumar S et al in Bihar[ 9 ] reported similar observations.…”

“…Nearly half of the subjects belonged to lower middle class IV (48.7%) followed by middle class III who account for 28%; however, the association between helminthic infection and the socioeconomic status of participants was found to be statistically significant (p value = 0.010). Banu SS et al , Dhaka, Bangladesh[ 7 ] and Kumar S et al [ 9 ] also found a similar significant association of socioeconomic status and Helminthic infestation. Kaur H and Sween[ 10 ] also found higher incidence of parasitic infections among children belonging to low socioeconomic status.…”

Does parental migration have any impact on nutritional disorders among left-behind children in Bangladesh?

“…To get to the bottom of the problem a wide range of factors needs to be considered. For instance, access to safe drinking-water, food preparation and serving dynamics and sanitation at household level, and prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infection in rural Bangladesh ( 32 ) can all have substantial impacts on nutritional development of LBC. Further studies are needed to unpack the factors that have immediate and long-term impacts on the nutritional development of LBC.…”

Integration of health education intervention to improve the compliance to mass drug administration for soil-transmitted helminths infection in Bangladesh: An implementation research

“…School-based deworming of school-aged children has been shown to decrease the infection burden, especially cost-effectively reducing high burden infections ( Hafiz et al, 2015 ; http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnady849.pdf/, 2011 ), however, the several empirical evidence from both multiyear deworming programs and modelling studies suggest that preventive chemotherapy alone is insufficient for sustainable control and elimination of STHs infection ( Truscott et al, 2016 ; Coffeng et al, 2018 ; Adeniran et al, 2017 ). While there has been a significant improvement in the control of STHs in Bangladesh, findings of high STH prevalence by several studies ( Chung et al, 2015 ; Hossain, 2015 ; Banu et al, 2011 ) indicate that ongoing MDA is failing to reach all target populations. Besides, there are some other factors also which hinder the STHs control like poor efficacy of MDA drugs for T .…”