Epidemiology of Soil-Transmitted Helminth and Intestinal Protozoan Infections in Preschool-Aged Children in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract. Intestinal parasites are important contributors to global morbidity and mortality and are the second most common cause of outpatient morbidity in Ethiopia. This cross-sectional survey describes the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths and intestinal protozoa in preschool children 0-5 years of age in seven communities in the Amhara region of Ethiopia, and investigates associations between infection, household water and sanitation characteristics, and child growth. Stool samples were collected from children 0-5 years of age, 1 g of sample was preserved in sodium acetate-acetic acid-formalin, and examined for intestinal helminth eggs and protozoa cysts ether-concentration method. A total of 212 samples were collected from 255 randomly selected children. The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm were 10.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.6-15.1), 1.4% (95% CI = 0-3.0), and 0% (95% CI = 0-1.7), respectively. The prevalence of the pathogenic intestinal protozoa Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica/dispar were 10.4% (95% CI = 6.2-14.6) and 3.3% (95% CI = 0.09-5.7), respectively. Children with A. lumbricoides infections had lower height-for-age z-scores compared with those without, but were not more likely to have stunting. Compared with those without G. lamblia, children with G. lamblia infections had lower weight-for-age and weight-for-height z-scores and were more than five times as likely to meet the z-score definition for wasting (prevalence ratio = 5.42, 95% CI = 2.97-9.89). This article adds to a growing body of research on child growth and intestinal parasitic infections and has implications for their treatment and prevention in preschool-aged children.

Defining Diarrhea: A Population-Based Validation Study of Caregiver-Reported Stool Consistency in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia

“…This study was conducted within two cluster-randomized trials studying WASH interventions in rural Ethiopia. In one, 14 communities in the East Gojjam zone were randomized to receive either a hand-dug well or no intervention [19][20][21] (labeled Trial I in this report; clinicaltrials.gov NCT02373657). In the other one, 40 communities in the Wag Himra zone were randomized to either a comprehensive WASH package or no intervention (labeled Trial II in this report; clinicaltrials.gov NCT02754583).…”

Seroprevalence of antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis and enteropathogens and distance to the nearest water source among young children in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia

“…To estimate differences in seroprevalence according to distance to the nearest water source, we used doubly robust targeted maximum likelihood estimation (TMLE) with influence-curve based standard errors that treated clusters as the independent unit of analysis [9,[28][29][30]. We calculated prevalence differences comparing the prevalence in the furthest (fourth) quartile of distance to the nearest water source to the prevalence in the nearest (first) quartile.…”

Use, adoption and effectiveness of tippy-tap handwashing station in promoting hand hygiene practices in a resource-limited setting: A systematic review

“…Based on MMAT, eight studies scored 100% [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]; ten studies scored 75% [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31] and two studies scored 50% [6,32]. With an average MMAT score of 82.5% across the included studies, the studies are considered to be of high quality.…”

“…Six studies were conducted in Uganda [6,21,26,28,30,31], two in Ethiopia [18,24], and two in Tanzania [14,20]. Furthemore, one study was conducted in each of the following countries: Zambia [16], Zimbabwe [27], Kenya [23], Nigeria [22], Haiti [19], Malawi [17], Ghana [15] and Sierra Leone ( [32].…”