Abstrato

Prevalence, associated risk factors of hymenolepis nana infection among children in sohag.

Amal Mostafa Ahmed *, Nada El Nadi, Noha Sammer Ahmed, Asmaa kamal Abd Ellah

Background: Hymenolepis nana is the most common cestode in human which has detrimental impact on host nutritional status. Several environmental and socio-economic factors are responsible for its continued persistence in children. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of H. nana infection in outpatients attending Sohag hospitals and correlation with some of its risk factors and Clinical manifestations. Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted during the period from November 2018 to June 2019.A total of 500 stool samples were examined from outpatient children aged 1-15 years attending Sohag Hospitals by direct fecal smear, Lugol's iodine and formal-ether concentration technique. Risk factors and Clinical manifestations were collected using a structured questionnaire. Chi-square and logistic regression analyses were used for data analysis. Results: Results indicated that the overall prevalence of H. nana in children under study was 5.8%.Multivariate analysis indicated that age of 1-8 years(P value < 0.03; AOR = 2.9; 95% CI = 1.1-7.8), with uneducated mothers (P value < 0.04; AOR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.1-9.1), consuming unwashed vegetables and fruits(P value < 0.01; AOR = 4.9; 95% CI =1.4-17.2), poor hand washing before eating and after toilet(P value < 0.005; AOR = 5.6; 95% CI = 1.6-19.2) as the significant risk factors of H. nana infection among these communities. The infection was significantly higher among those who had abdominal pain (P value < 0.001), anorexia (P value < 0.005) and underweight participants (BMI < 18.5kg/m2) (P value < 0.01) when compared to their asymptomatic counterparts. Conclusions: The present study highlighted on prevalence of H. nana infection in children Sohag Governorate, Egypt and provided that, H. nana infection is a public health problem and there is an urgent need for efforts towards ensuring adequate control of the infection in Sohag Governorate especially in children of school age