Intestinal Parasitic Infections and their Relationships with Nutritional Status and Haemoglobin Level in Children

Background: Iron deficiency and intestinal parasitic infection are still nowadays, an important public health problem concern worldwide, mainly in specific geographical areas and among groups with specific socio-economic status because of the high frequency reached in several countries as well as its pathological consequences.Objective: This survey study is to study the relationships between intestinal parasitism , haemoglobin level and nutritional status in school children.Subjects and Methods: A total number of (200) male children attending Almarsah Primary School at Almarsah –Dekernes – Dakahlia Governorate were the subjects of this study. Patients suspected to have signs or symptoms related to other causes of microcytic hypochromic anemia such as thalassemia, or chronic debilitating diseases as chronic renal diseases, diabetes mellitus and congenital heart diseases were excluded from the study.Results: The prevalence of parasitic infections was (29%)of 200 school children subjected to this study. The most prevalent parasite was amoeba by (26) infected children (44.8%) followed by oxyuris (22) infected children (37.9%) then giardia 6 infected children (10.7%) and lastly ascaris( 2) infected children (3.4%). Anaemia was mild as the mean haemoglobin levels in all different age groups was higher than (10.5). The prevalence of amoeba was highiest at age 7 years (7 infected cases) while lowest prevalence was at age 6 and 8 years (2 infected case) while oxyuris showed highest prevalence at age 11 years (6 infected children) and lowest prevalence at age 6 and 10 years (2 infected children) and the highest prevalence of giardia was at age 6 and 11 years (2 infected children) and the lowest prevalence was at age 8 and 9 years ( no infected children).Conclusion: The prevalence of parasitic infections is decreasing, parasitic infected children are more prone to anthropometric retardation. Iron deficiency is more common in children who have parasitic infestations.