Parasitic Infestation and Its Effect on Growth of Primary School Children in Hehia Center, Zagazig City, Sharkia Governorate

Abstract

Background: Intestinal parasitic infestations are one of the neglected tropical diseases and it is most common among school children. It negatively affects children growth, cognitive development and learning abilities. It may lead to nutritional deficiencies and anemia. The present study aims to identify the effect of parasitic infestations on growth among primary school children. Descriptive comparative design was conducted on a sample of 200 children (100 infected study group, and 100 not infected) at Hehia primary schools. Two tools were used; Questionnaire interview sheet and Growth Chart. The study results revealed that118.46 ± 10.49 was the mean of height of not infected group. Also, 31% of not infected group were in underweight level; It can be concluded that there was a statistically significant difference between both not infected and infected group concerning to weight and body mass index. Also, there was a statistically significant difference between both group concerning to body mass index levels therefore the study recommended that health education and environmental sanitation improvement are recommended as preventive control measures.

The Impact of Parasitic Infestation on Nutritional Status and Micronutrients among Children

“…Our findings were consistent with the study's findings regarding the association between intestinal parasites and clinical symptoms at the time of examination, which indicated that the majority of infected children experienced abdominal pain, dysentery, vomiting, perianal itching, diarrhea, and pallor (69.9%, 9.1%, 3.2%, 33.9%, 12.9%, and 48.4%, respectively), with a highly significant statistical difference [25]. Most of these symptoms were general signs of abdominal discomfort like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and weight loss.…”

“…In consensus, it was reported that there were greater infection rates in male cases (66.6%) compared to female cases (41.4%) [ 22 ]. In internal reports [ 25 ] as in Tanta city in Egypt and in external reports [ 20 ] as in Debre Berhan town in Ethiopia, male children had greater rates of intestinal parasitic infections. On the other hand, some studies claim that female individuals had a higher rate of intestinal parasite infection than male participants [ 26 ].…”

“…As regards residence, we found that the majority of infected children were living in rural areas (66.4%) than urban areas (33.6%) with nonsignificant statistical difference. Accordingly, the prevalence of parasitic infection among rural children was higher than that of urban children (66.1%, 33.9%), respectively [ 25 ], and the widespread use of water from the Nile for drinking, bathing, and recreation and the difficulty of changing these sociocultural practices were cited in this report as the causes of the higher incidence of intestinal parasites in rural populations in Egypt.…”

“…E. vermicularis was the most often recovered helminth (35.7%), followed by H. nana (7.9%), among the parasitic species identified during our research. An Egyptian study conducted in Tanta found that E. vermicularis and H. nana were the two most common helminthic infections among the primary school children [ 25 ].…”

“…According to a different study, the infected group had statistically significant lower weight-for-height, weightfor-age, and body mass index (BMI) values than the noninfected group [2]. Mohammed Mealy et al [25], in a comparable way, found a significant difference in BMI between healthy and infected subjects. This finding can be explained by the intestinal tissue damage driven by parasite infection as well as other nutrient deficiencies that could affect weight gain and other children's health issues [34].…”