INTESTINAL PARASITIC PREVALENCE IN RURAL AREA CHILDREN MOBARAKEH-ISFAHAN -1997

Abstract

Introduction: intestinal parasitic infection is considered as one of the important health indices and the differences in it"s prevalence in different communities, explain the need for the periodical study of the prevalence inorder to organize, convenient preventative programs. previous studies have shown that prevalence of parasitic infection in rural areas is higher than urban areas. Therefore in this survey for the first time, the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in relation to some of the demographic parameters was studied in rural areas of the city of mobarakeh of Isfahan province in 1997.
Methods: Two methods were used to detect the presence of intestinal parasites; direct exam and fecalcontrate system: formalin ethyl acetate method. The scotch tape method was used to examin for Enterobius vermicularis.
Results: 51.9 percent of the studied children were infected by one or several intestinal parasites. The most prevalent intestinal parasite was Giardia lamblia (29.8 percent), Entamoeba coli (17.1 percent) and Enterobius vermicularis(16.3 percent) respectively. A significant relation was found between age, level of education of mother and father, weight at birth, number of children in the family, and parasitic infections (P< percentS). No significant relationship was observed between sex and parasitic infections (P> percentS).
Discussion: A comparison between the present results and those reported previously indicates that there is not a significant differences between the prevalence of parasitic infection in rural and urban parts of Isfahan province. Intestinal parasitic infections is still an important health problem in the region and the control and prevention demands more consideration of authorities.