Publication: Impact of hookworm deworming on anemia and nutritional status among children in Thailand
Issued Date
2011-07-01
Resource Type
ISSN
01251562
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2-s2.0-80054958645
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. Vol.42, No.4 (2011), 782-792
Suggested Citation
Dorn Watthanakulpanich, Wanna Maipanich, Somchit Pubampen, Surapol Sa-Nguankiat, Somchai Pooudouang, Yaovamarn Chantaranipapong, Nirundorn Homsuwan, Yukifumi Nawa, Jitra Waikagul Impact of hookworm deworming on anemia and nutritional status among children in Thailand. Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. Vol.42, No.4 (2011), 782-792. Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/12419
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Title
Impact of hookworm deworming on anemia and nutritional status among children in Thailand
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Abstract
Hookworm infection is associated with anemia, especially among children and deworming can improve anemic status; however, little information is available about the degree to which anemia improves after deworming. We chose hookworm-endemic rural areas of Thailand, Nan Province in the north, Kanchanaburi Province in the west and Nakhon Si Thammarat Province in the south, to evaluate this problem. Subjects were selected by primary school-based stool egg examinations. Blood tests of 182 hookworm-positive primary school children, composed of 22 heavy, 65 moderate and 95 light infections, were compared with a control group of 57 children who were helminth-free both before and after receiving deworming medicine. Before deworming, the red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and albumin levels of the hookworm-infected groups were significantly lower than the helminth-free control group. The Hb and Hct levels showed an inverse relationship with intensity of hookworm infection. After deworming, the Hb, Hct, total protein and albumin levels of the hookworm-infected children improved within 2 months to become comparable with the helminth-free control group. One year after deworming, the mean blood test results in the 2 groups were not significantly different from each other.