Intestinal parasitic infection among school children in Golestan province, Iran

Infections by intestinal parasites are a major public health problem worldwide, especially among children in developing countries. It causes nutritional deficiencies and anaemia. As, the prevalence ofparasitic infection is different among various population, there is a need for periodical prevalence evaluation to an appropriate control strategy. The goal in this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in primary school children living in Gorgan, north of Iran. A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 800 schoolchildren aged 8-12 years of Gorgan city, capital of Golestan province, located in the north of Iran in 2011. Three stool specimens were collected from each student. Specimens were examined with direct wet and formalin ethyl acetate method. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 16 software. A total of 800 schoolchildren were screened. Nearly one third of students (28.8%) were infected with one or more intestinal parasites. The most common parasite were Giardia intestinalis (9.9%; 79/800) and H. nana (1.5%; 12/800), respectively. The data showed that Children living in crowded family (> or = 3) were more susceptible to infection also take care of animals in house helps to transmission of parasite infections as there was a significant association between that and rates of parasite infections (p-value < 0.05). The prevalence of infection was also much more common in those students whose parents were less educated. A high percentage of school children were infected to intestinal parasites, so, intervention programs including health education and environmental sanitation are required.