Fungal and bacterial infection in malnourished children and its relation to severity of the disease

The present research was conducted to assess the prevalence of fungal and bacterial infections in malnourished children and correlating these infections with the severity and type of malnutrition. The study included 50 malnourished children [25 Marasmus and 25 Kwashiorkor KW], their ages ranged from 1 to 36 months with a mean of 10'7 months. All patients were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination: Anthropometric measures: Routine investigations and Microbiological study [fungal and bacterial cultures] of urine samples obtained by suprapubic aspiration both rectal and mouth swabs as well as gastric aspirate using nasogastric feeding tube were taken from each patient. The present study revealed that Candida albicans was the most prevalent fungal pathogen isolated, constituted 81% of +ve fungal cultures [85% in marasmus and 15% in KW patients]. E. coli was the most prevalent bacterial pathogen, detected in 50.5% of all +/- ve cultures [57% in marasmus and 43% in KW patients]. The severity of childhood malnutrition determines the incidence of fungal and bacterial infection