Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and predisposing factors among children in field practice area of tertiary care centre in South India

Introduction: The intestinal parasitic infections are more common in many parts of the world with the developing countries being affected the worse. These are more common children due to presence of varied risk factors in this group. Aim: To estimate the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and their predisposing factors among children. Methods: The study involved 204 children and their stool samples were collected and examined by wet mount-saline and iodine, and concentration- saturated salt solution and formol ether sedimentation techniques. Results: Among the 204 stool samples examined, 56 were positive contributing to a prevalence of 27.5% of intestinal parasitic infection. The most common intestinal parasite was found to be Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/moshkovskii (8.33%) followed by hook worm (7.4%) and Giardia intestinalis (5.4%). Other parasites like cysts of E.coli in 5 cases (2.5%), ova of Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichura in 3 patients (1.5%) and Enterobius vermicularis egg in 2 children (1%) were also found. Predisposing factors such as lack of toilet facilities, children not washing their hands and walking with barefoot were found to be the significantly associated with intestinal parasitic infections in this study. Conclusion: Proper health and hygienic education should be provided to children and their parents. Periodic deworming programmes should be implemented successfully in the community.