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68139

UNDERWEIGHT AS A RISK FACTOR FOR MULTIPARASITISM AND ITS CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE AMONG EGYPTIAN CHILDREN

Article

Last updated: 25 Dec 2024

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Abstract

Although multiparasitism is a common phenomenon, but its impact on young children nutritional and developmental status is underestimated. This cross-sectional study aimed to statistically correlate single/multiple parasitic infections detected with underweight, demographic and clinical data. Stool samples were collected from 222 Egyptian children from 1 to 5 years old who were attending the Diagnostic and Research Unit of Parasitic Diseases. Stool samples were screened for parasitic species using light microscopy of direct, trichrome and modified kinyoun stained smears. Nutritional status was evaluated using weight-for-age plotting against standard reference growth charts. Questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic and clinical data of children under study. The overall prevalence of parasitosis was 51.8%. Among infected children, polyparasitism was significantly higher among underweight (66.7%; P<0.001), and in males compared to females (31.6% vs. 16.7%; P =0.011). Univariate analysis showed significant associations between underweight
and Giardia lamblia co-infection with other species (P < 0.001). Multiparasitism should be of more concern especially to this age group, as it can exacerbate children's morbidity. However, several methodological challenges remain when it comes to detecting parasite interactions in resource-constrained settings.

DOI

10.21608/jesp.2019.68139

Keywords

children, Multiparasitism, significance, Underweight

Authors

First Name

MONA

Last Name

KHATER

MiddleName

M.

Affiliation

Department of Medical Parasitology, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.

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Orcid

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First Name

EMAN

Last Name

ELFAR

MiddleName

I.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Kasr Al-Ainy Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.

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Volume

49

Article Issue

2

Related Issue

10317

Issue Date

2019-08-01

Receive Date

2020-01-14

Publish Date

2019-08-01

Page Start

337

Page End

344

Print ISSN

1110-0583

Online ISSN

2090-2549

Link

https://jesp.journals.ekb.eg/article_68139.html

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https://jesp.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=68139

Order

11

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,127

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Journal of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology

Publication Link

https://jesp.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

UNDERWEIGHT AS A RISK FACTOR FOR MULTIPARASITISM AND ITS CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE AMONG EGYPTIAN CHILDREN

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023