Intestinal parasitic infections in Zahedan day-care units

Background: The prevalence of infection with bowel parasites is still remarkably high in
children of developing countries. Day-care units usually serve for the infants and children as
their primary site of social contact; so we aimed to determine the frequency rate of bowel
infections in children attending these places, on their arrival and comparing it with this
frequency 4-6 months afterwards.
Methods and Materials: In this descriptive-analytic longitudinal study performed during the
latter half of 1378, a total of 853 children of 4-6 years were randomly selected from day-care
units of different regions in Zahedan. After recording the demographic data, a direct stool
exam, scatch test and formaline-etter test were done. In the first stage 411 and in the next
stage (4-6 months later) 438 children were studied. Chi-square test was used to compare the
infection rate between the first and second stages.
Results: The rate of infected children was 19.1% and 42% in the first and the second stages
respectively. The highest increase in infection rate belonged to Oxyuris which increased from
4.7% in stage one to 15.5% in stage two. The rate of infection with Giardia lambelia and
Hemonolepsis nana was 10.6% and 3.1% in stage one, which respectively raised to 15% and
4.6% in stage two. The above increment was significant (P<0.05). Totally 835 children all
younger than 6 years old were studied in the two stages of which 263 (30.8%) had at least one
type of infection. The frequency of infection with Oxyuris was 78 in 785 prepared slides.
Conclusions: Considering the life cycle of bowel parasites and their routes of transmission,
it seems that we face shortness in knowledge of workers in day-care centers and also an
insufficiency in practice of sanitary principles. A closer study of effective factors in
transmission of infestation in these centers and their elimination, periodically testing the
children and their care-givers, and finally programs of hygiene education and control for the
workers seems a necessity.