Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine, Kumasi, Ghana.
Parasit Vectors. 2011 Aug 22;4:163. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-4-163.
Acute childhood diarrhoea remains one of the leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The WHO has accordingly underlined the need for epidemiological surveys of infantile diarrhoea in all geographical areas. This study was conducted to determine the incidence of intestinal parasites among stool samples from children examined at a secondary health care facility in a rural area of Ghana.
A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the incidence of intestinal parasites among children who had their stools examined at the Agogo Hospital laboratory. Stool microscopy results from January 2006 through May 2009 were obtained from archived records of the laboratory. Results for children less than 18 years were transcribed unto a standardized datasheet, entered into an electronic database designed using Microsoft® access 2007 and analyzed using Stata/SE11.1 statistical software. The incidences of the parasites were determined and presented with their Poisson exact 95% confidence intervals for the various ages.
The median age of the 1080 children included in the study was 5 years (IQR: 2-12 years) with 51.9% being females. The overall incidence of all parasites was 114 per 1000 with Giardia lamblia being the most common (89.5%). Children aged less than a year had the lowest parasite incidence of 13 per 1000 with all being Giardia lamblia, while those aged 15-17 years had the highest of 169 per 1000. The incidence for Giardia lamblia only was lowest at 13 per 1000 for those under a year old, highest at 152 per 1000 for the 15-17 year group and 97 per 1000 for all ages combined. There was a significant rise in incidence of Giardia lamblia with age (Trend x2 = 18.6, p < 0.001). Five (4.3%) of the 118 positive stool samples had mixed parasites infection. Enterobius vermicularis, Taenia spp and Trichuris trichiura were not seen in any of the stool samples.
Giardia lamblia is the most prevalent intestinal parasite in examined stool samples of children within the Ashanti Akim North Municipality and its prevalence significantly increases with age. Measures must be put in place to educate the community on proper personal hygiene to reduce giardiasis.
急性儿童腹泻仍然是发展中国家儿童发病率和死亡率的主要原因之一。因此，世界卫生组织强调了在所有地理区域进行婴儿腹泻流行病学调查的必要性。本研究旨在确定加纳农村地区二级保健机构就诊儿童粪便样本中肠道寄生虫的发生率。
对阿戈戈医院实验室进行粪便显微镜检查的儿童的肠道寄生虫发生率进行回顾性研究。从实验室存档记录中获得 2006 年 1 月至 2009 年 5 月的粪便显微镜检查结果。将 18 岁以下儿童的结果转录到标准化数据表中，输入使用 Microsoft® access 2007 设计的电子数据库，并使用 Stata/SE11.1 统计软件进行分析。确定寄生虫的发生率，并为各种年龄组提供其泊松精确 95%置信区间的发生率。
本研究共纳入 1080 名儿童，中位数年龄为 5 岁（IQR：2-12 岁），女性占 51.9%。所有寄生虫的总发生率为每 1000 人 114 人，其中贾第虫 lamblia 最为常见（89.5%）。年龄小于 1 岁的儿童寄生虫感染率最低，为每 1000 人 13 人，均为贾第虫 lamblia，而年龄为 15-17 岁的儿童寄生虫感染率最高，为每 1000 人 169 人。仅贾第虫 lamblia 的感染率在 1 岁以下的儿童中最低，为每 1000 人 132 人，在 15-17 岁组中最高，为每 1000 人 152 人，在所有年龄组中均为每 1000 人 97 人。贾第虫 lamblia 的发病率随年龄呈显著上升趋势（趋势 x2 = 18.6，p < 0.001）。在 118 份阳性粪便样本中，有 5 份（4.3%）混合有寄生虫感染。在任何粪便样本中均未发现蛲虫、绦虫和鞭虫。
贾第虫 lamblia 是阿散蒂阿克姆北部自治市检查儿童粪便样本中最常见的肠道寄生虫，其流行率随年龄显著增加。必须采取措施教育社区正确的个人卫生习惯，以减少贾第虫病。
