A Study of Prevalence of Intestinal Protozoan Infections and associated Risk Factors among the School Children of Dharan, Eastern Region of Nepal

Intestinal parasites, notably the protozoan infections, are among the most common infections of school age children where they cause morbidity in developing countries.

To measure the prevalence of intestinal protozoan infection and to identify risk factors associated with protozoan infection among the school children of Dharan.

Cross sectional study

A cross sectional study was conducted among 935 Government and private school children of Grade VI, VII and VIII of Dharan. Stratified random sampling method was applied to choose the schools and the study subjects. Semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the study subjects and microscopic examination of stool was done. The prevalence was calculated, Chi-square test was used to measure the association of risk factors and intestinal protozoan infection.

Overall prevalence of intestinal protozoan infection among the school children was 12.9 percent. Giardia lamblia was found slightly higher (6.8%) in comparison to Entamoeba histolytica (6.1%). Almost 14.3% of males and 11.4% of females were infected with protozoan parasites. The respondents from Dalit (16.7%) were found to have higher prevalence of protozoan infection than other ethnic groups. The use of soap and water before meal showed significantly lower prevalence of protozoan infection (10.3%) than only use of water (16.8%).

The prevalence of intestinal protozoan infection was slightly high among the school children of Dharan, and was seen significantly more among population who wash hands only with water before meal, and have unhygienic skin, nail and clothes.