<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> Background: Data regarding intestinal parasitic infections in preschool-aged children (less than 6 years old) living in an orphanage and remote mountainous areas are very limited.Objectives: We surveyed infections in orphans and hill-tribe children.Materials and Methods: They were studied in 2008 by stool examination (simple smear and concentration), Scotch-tape and culture (Boeck and Drbohlav’s Lock-Egg-Serum medium) techniques. The Giardia coproantigen ELISA was also performed. The risk correlation between unusual stool types and giardiasis by univariate analysis was tested.Results: The overall infection rates in 137 orphans and in 145 hill-tribe children were 58.4% and 77.9%, respectively. Giardia intestinalis had the highest prevalence in orphans (with microscopy 28.5%, with copro-antigen ELISA 31.4%). Other pathogens included Blastocystis hominis (23.4%), Enterobius vermicularis (9.5%), and hookworm (0.7%), whereas the nonpathogens were Trichomonas hominis (19.0%), Entamoeba coli (11.7%), and Endolimax nana (2.2%). Ascaris lumbricoides had the highest prevalence (62.1%) in hill-tribe children, while Giardia intestinalis showed 7.6% with microscopy and 9.0% by ELISA. The other pathogens were E. vermicularis (25.5%), Trichuris trichiura (10.3%), B. hominis (2.8%), hookworm (1.4%), Sarcocystis hominis (1.4%) and E. histolytica (0.7%), whereas the nonpathogenic organisms were E. coli (19.3%), and E. nana (0.7%). Giardiasis stools from orphans had significantly greater cyst density than those from the hill-tribe children. The coproantigen ELISA for giardiasis demonstrated 91.4% specificity, 72.0% sensitivity, 64.3% positive predictive value, and 93.8% negative predictive value, respectively. By univariate analysis, a loose (mushy) stool type was 2.43 times likely to have Giardia cysts.Conclusion: In large-scale epidemiological studies, a Giardia ELISA might be a useful aid for diagnosis, because conventional microscopy is time-consuming and relies on the expertise of the microscopist.</abstract>

Background: Data regarding intestinal parasitic infections in preschool-aged children (less than 6 years old) living in an orphanage and remote mountainous areas are very limited.Objectives: We surveyed infections in orphans and hill-tribe children.Materials and Methods: They were studied in 2008 by stool examination (simple smear and concentration), Scotch-tape and culture (Boeck and Drbohlav’s Lock-Egg-Serum medium) techniques. The Giardia coproantigen ELISA was also performed. The risk correlation between unusual stool types and giardiasis by univariate analysis was tested.Results: The overall infection rates in 137 orphans and in 145 hill-tribe children were 58.4% and 77.9%, respectively. Giardia intestinalis had the highest prevalence in orphans (with microscopy 28.5%, with copro-antigen ELISA 31.4%). Other pathogens included Blastocystis hominis (23.4%), Enterobius vermicularis (9.5%), and hookworm (0.7%), whereas the nonpathogens were Trichomonas hominis (19.0%), Entamoeba coli (11.7%), and Endolimax nana (2.2%). Ascaris lumbricoides had the highest prevalence (62.1%) in hill-tribe children, while Giardia intestinalis showed 7.6% with microscopy and 9.0% by ELISA. The other pathogens were E. vermicularis (25.5%), Trichuris trichiura (10.3%), B. hominis (2.8%), hookworm (1.4%), Sarcocystis hominis (1.4%) and E. histolytica (0.7%), whereas the nonpathogenic organisms were E. coli (19.3%), and E. nana (0.7%). Giardiasis stools from orphans had significantly greater cyst density than those from the hill-tribe children. The coproantigen ELISA for giardiasis demonstrated 91.4% specificity, 72.0% sensitivity, 64.3% positive predictive value, and 93.8% negative predictive value, respectively. By univariate analysis, a loose (mushy) stool type was 2.43 times likely to have Giardia cysts.Conclusion: In large-scale epidemiological studies, a Giardia ELISA might be a useful aid for diagnosis, because conventional microscopy is time-consuming and relies on the expertise of the microscopist.

Intestinal parasitic infections: high prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in children living in an orphanage compared with hill-tribe children as detected by microscopy and ELISA

Department of Parasitology, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330,

Department of Family Health, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400,

Medical student, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330,

Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330,

Asian Biomedicine

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Background: Data regarding intestinal parasitic infections in preschool-aged children (less than 6 years old) living in an orphanage and remote mountainous...

Intestinal parasitic infections: high prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in children living in an orphanage compared with hill-tribe children as detected by microscopy and ELISA

Article Category: Brief communication (Original)

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 855 - 863

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0706.250

Keywords
ELISA, Giardia intestinalis, hill-tribe children, intestinal parasite, microscopy, orphanage children, preschool-aged children

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Intestinal parasitic infections: high prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in children living in an orphanage compared with hill-tribe children as detected by microscopy and ELISA

Article Category: Brief communication (Original)

Published Online: Feb 04, 2017

Page range: 855 - 863

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5372/1905-7415.0706.250

KeywordsELISA, Giardia intestinalis, hill-tribe children, intestinal parasite, microscopy, orphanage children, preschool-aged children

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
ELISA, Giardia intestinalis, hill-tribe children, intestinal parasite, microscopy, orphanage children, preschool-aged children