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Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) remain a major public health problem, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Though infections are prevalent among all age groups, the world health organization (WHO) considers Pre-school age children (PSAC), school-aged children,...

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Autores principales: Shumbej, Teha, Belay, Tariku, Mekonnen, Zeleke, Tefera, Tamirat, Zemene, Endalew
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548951/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26305361
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136342
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author Shumbej, Teha
Belay, Tariku
Mekonnen, Zeleke
Tefera, Tamirat
Zemene, Endalew
author_facet Shumbej, Teha
Belay, Tariku
Mekonnen, Zeleke
Tefera, Tamirat
Zemene, Endalew
author_sort Shumbej, Teha
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) remain a major public health problem, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Though infections are prevalent among all age groups, the world health organization (WHO) considers Pre-school age children (PSAC), school-aged children, and pregnant women as segments of population at high risk of STH morbidities. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and infection intensity of STH and associated factors among PSAC in Butajira Town, south-central Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June, 2014 in Butajira Town. The PSAC were selected by systematic sampling technique and invited to participate in the present study. McMaster technique was employed for parasitological analysis of stool samples. Pearson’s Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were performed where appropriate to identify any association between STH infection and independent factors. Multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to identify independent predictors of STH among the PSAC. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 377 (with 96% compliance rate) PSAC were able to provide complete data (socio-demographic information and stool sample). The study showed that 23.3% (88/377) PSAC were infected with one or more species of STH. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent STH (14.9%) followed by Trichuris trichiura (6.4%). The overall infection intensity, expressed as geometric mean for A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworms were 229, 178, and 154 eggs per gram of stool, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression model estimated that being in the age group of 36–47 months (AOR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2–5.3, P = 0.016), untrimmed finger nail (AOR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.8–5.5, P < 0.001), and not washing hands before a meal (AOR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.7–5.4, P < 0.001) were independent predictors of STH infections among the children. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that STH was a public health problem among PSAC in the study area necessitating annual deworming to control morbidities associated with STH. Besides, the existing health education program should also be strengthened to prevent re-infection.
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spelling pubmed-45489512015-09-01 Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study Shumbej, Teha Belay, Tariku Mekonnen, Zeleke Tefera, Tamirat Zemene, Endalew PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) remain a major public health problem, particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Though infections are prevalent among all age groups, the world health organization (WHO) considers Pre-school age children (PSAC), school-aged children, and pregnant women as segments of population at high risk of STH morbidities. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and infection intensity of STH and associated factors among PSAC in Butajira Town, south-central Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from May to June, 2014 in Butajira Town. The PSAC were selected by systematic sampling technique and invited to participate in the present study. McMaster technique was employed for parasitological analysis of stool samples. Pearson’s Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were performed where appropriate to identify any association between STH infection and independent factors. Multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to identify independent predictors of STH among the PSAC. P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 377 (with 96% compliance rate) PSAC were able to provide complete data (socio-demographic information and stool sample). The study showed that 23.3% (88/377) PSAC were infected with one or more species of STH. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent STH (14.9%) followed by Trichuris trichiura (6.4%). The overall infection intensity, expressed as geometric mean for A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworms were 229, 178, and 154 eggs per gram of stool, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression model estimated that being in the age group of 36–47 months (AOR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.2–5.3, P = 0.016), untrimmed finger nail (AOR: 3.2, 95% CI: 1.8–5.5, P < 0.001), and not washing hands before a meal (AOR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.7–5.4, P < 0.001) were independent predictors of STH infections among the children. CONCLUSION: The present study showed that STH was a public health problem among PSAC in the study area necessitating annual deworming to control morbidities associated with STH. Besides, the existing health education program should also be strengthened to prevent re-infection. Public Library of Science 2015-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4548951/ /pubmed/26305361 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136342 Text en © 2015 Shumbej et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Shumbej, Teha
Belay, Tariku
Mekonnen, Zeleke
Tefera, Tamirat
Zemene, Endalew
Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Soil-Transmitted Helminths and Associated Factors among Pre-School Children in Butajira Town, South-Central Ethiopia: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort soil-transmitted helminths and associated factors among pre-school children in butajira town, south-central ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4548951/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26305361
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136342
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