Publication: 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
Issued Date
2013-12-01
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ISSN
1875855X
19057415
19057415
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-84896776052
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Mahidol University
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SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Asian Biomedicine. Vol.7, No.6 (2013), 855-863
Suggested Citation
Jaruratt Prownebon, Phitaya Charupoonphol, Pat Saksirisampant, Thitithep Limvorapitak, Usanee Seepongpun, Wilai Saksirisampant 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. Asian Biomedicine. Vol.7, No.6 (2013), 855-863. doi:10.5372/1905-7415.0706.250 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/31152
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Title
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
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 copro-antigen 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 copro-antigen 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.