Evaluation of the Nutritional Status of a Rural Parasitized Pediatric Population in the State of Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

SOJ Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Open Access Mini Review and developing countries [1,2]. The determining factors of the incidence and severity of child malnutrition are multiple and many times result from the sum of several of them. Among these factors, stand out the miserable conditions in which they live, the high birth rate, the hypoproteic diet, the deficient supply of vitamins and minerals, the intestinal malabsorption resulting from parasite infections and chronic diseases [3]. Parasite infections are an important public health problem, as they cause anemia due to iron deficiency, malabsorption of nutrients and diarrhea, among the main ailments [4]. The high prevalence of parasitoses is often associated with fecal contamination of drinking water and the soil, or of food, together with deficient sanitary and socio-cultural conditions [1,5]. Child malnutrition occurs more frequently in homes of excluded rural communities, in which poverty adds to the lack of information and the difficulties in food supply faced by the most isolated populations, in which deficiencies in housing quality, environmental sanitation, potable water supply, sewage systems, or personal and collective hygiene practices abound. The problem is so severe, that [6], state that 10 million children die each year, and almost all of them in poor countries. The death of 5 million children less than 5 years is associated to malnutrition, and almost 2 million deaths to intestinal infections. The mortality rates are higher in children from 6 to 12 months of age, because at this age the immune system has not reached maturation, antibodies diminish in maternal milk, and the food introduced during weaning can be contaminated with diverse parasites [6-8]. There is a close association between intestinal parasitoses and nutrition. Intestinal parasitoses deteriorate the nutritional status of the host, which can exacerbate and even cause severe malnutrition with extreme repercussions on growth and psychomotor development when occurring at an age under 2 years. In addition, there are alterations in cellular immunity and, in consequence, an increase in the duration and severity of infections at different life stages [9,10]. This association contributes largely to the high morbidity indices.