Demographic and parasitic infection status of schoolchildren and sanitary conditions of schools in Sanliurfa, Turkey.

BACKGROUND: The design and development of school health programmes will require information at demographic characteristics of schoolchildren and the major health burdens of the school-age group, the opportunities for intervention and the appropriateness of the available infrastructure. This study aims to analyse demographic and parasitic infections status of schoolchildren and sanitary conditions of schools in Sanliurfa province of south-eastern Turkey. METHOD: Three primary schools were randomly selected in the shantytown, apartment and rural districts. A total of 1820 schoolchildren between 7-14 years age were took part to the survey of whom 1120 (61.5%) were boys and 700 (38.4%) were girls. A child form (including child's name, sex, age, school grade and parasitic infections) and school survey form (including condition of water supply, condition of latrines, presence of soaps on the basins and presence of garbage piles around to the schools) were used for demographic, parasitic and sanitary surveys. Stool samples were examined by cellophane thick smear technique for the eggs of intestinal helminths. RESULTS: The demographic survey showed that number of schoolchildren was gradually decreased as their age's increase in shantytown school. The sex ratio was proportional until the second grade, after which the number of females gradually decreased in children in shantytown and rural schools while, in apartment area, schoolchildren was proportionally distributed between age groups and gender even the high-grade students. The prevalence of helminthic infections was %77.1 of the schoolchildren in shantytown, 53.2% in apartment district and 53.1% of rural area. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent species and followed by Trichuris trichiura, Hymenolepis nana and Taenia species in three schools. Sanitation survey indicated that the tap water was limited in shantytown school, toilet's sanitation was poor, available no soaps on lavatories and garbage piles were accumulated around the schools in shantytown and rural area, while, the school in apartment area was well sanitised. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that burden of parasitic infections and poor sanitation conditions constituted public health importance among to the shantytown schoolchildren. School health programmes including deworming and sanitation activities through the health education and improvement of sanitation conditions in the schools have a potential to better health and education for schoolchildren. These programmes also offer the potential to reach significant numbers of population in the shantytown schools with high level of absenteeism.

Giardíase e helmintíases em crianças de creches e escolas de 1§ e 2§ graus (públicas e privadas) da cidade de Mirassol (SP, Brasil) / Giardiasis and helminthiasis in children of both public and privative day-care centers and junior and high schools in the city of Mirassol, Säo Paulo State, Brazil

O presente trabalho mostrou freqüências diferentes de parasitoses intestinais (giardíase e helmintíases) entre crianças de pré-escolas e de escolas de l§ e 2§ Graus, públicas e privadas. Pesquisou-se 199 indivíduos, sendo 96 pertencentes às instituiçöes públicas e 103 pertencentes às instituiçöes particulares. Nas instituiçöes públicas as freqüências de giardíase foram maiores que nas instituiçöes privadas. Para as helmintíases, as freqüências foram semelhantes entre as creches, porém maiores na escola pública em relaçäo à particular. Indicadores do nível sócio-econômico, de escolaridade, de saneamento básico, como determinantes de parasitose intestinal, evidenciaram que as maiores freqüências de parasitoses ocorreram tanto entre as crianças de baixa renda quanto entre as que tinham pais com nível de escolaridade mais baixo. Também a origem das hortaliças foi um fator significativo para determinaçäo destas parasitoses

Tapeworms (cestodiasis).

Nearly all of the cestodes, or tapeworms (class Cestoda in the phylum Platyhelminthes, the flatworms), are parasitic as adults in the intestinal tract of vertebrates. This article discusses the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of taeniasis, diphyllobothriasis, hymenolepiasis, dipylidiasis, and other tapeworm infections.

Urban helminthiasis in two socioeconomically distinct Costa Rican communities

Se investigó la prevalencia de Ascaris lumbricoides. Trichiuris trichiura e Hymenolepis nana em dos comunidades adyacentes pero con nivel socioeconómico diferente, San José, Costa Rica. Se trató de un caserío precario con mala infraestructura sanitaroa y un barrio con buenas condiciones higiénicas. El primero mostró una mayor prevalencia de las helmintiasis investigadas. El grupo etario de menores de 14 años del precario, fue más afectado por A. lumbricoides e H. nana que los adultos, patrón no observado con T. trichiura. Estos resultados indican la necesidad de incluir las condiciones socioeconómicas como parámetro de análisis, cuando se estudia la prevalencia de helmintiasis intestinales en comunidades urbanas, a fin de obtener un perfil de las parasitosis más realista

Host genetics: a key factor in regulating the distribution of parasites in natural host populations.

The immune response that expels the tapeworm Hymenolepis citelli from the small intestine of its host the white-footed deer mouse is genetically controlled. Patent infections with this tapeworm occur only in individuals that are homozygous for a recessive allele expressed at a single gene locus. By studying this natural host-parasite system in the laboratory it was shown that host genetics contributes to parasite overdispersion in a host population in the absence of all other ecological variables. Thus, the substantive influence of the proportions of resistant and susceptible genotypes in the host population must be considered when developing parasite population models of transmission or control measures.

The parasites obtained and bacteria isolated from house rats (Rattus rattus Linnaeus, 1758) caught in human habitations in Ibadan, Nigeria.

A total of 169 house rats were killed in different households distributed within five localities of Ibadan. A wide range of parasites were encountered. The flea, Ceratophylus fasciatus was the commonest ectoparasite found. Trichostrongylus columbriformis eggs were the commonest nematode and Hymenolepis diminuta the only cestode. Escherichia coli was the commonest bacterium found. The incidence of helminthiasis, especially H. diminuta, was generally high among rats trapped in the villages and the indigenous areas of the city. One hundred and twenty eight (128) of the rats possessed Trypanosoma lewisi infection, seventy one (71) had Anaplasma marginale while fifty seven (57) had Babesia microti infection. The public health importance of some of the parasites found is discussed.

[Comparative study of different strains of the dwarf tapeworm, Hymenolepis nana in the process of adapting to the body of a new host, the white mouse]. / Sravnitel'noe izuchenie razlichnykh shtammov karlikovogo tsepnia Hymenolepis nana v protsesse adaptatsii k organizmu novogo khoziania--beloi myshi

Different strains of H. nana from man, Norway and white rats were studied in regards to their adaptability. Strains obtained from spontaneously infected white mice and those passaged for several years on white mice served as control. In the course of successive passages the infectivity of these strains, developmental rates of tissue larvae, localization of cystocercoids in the small intestine and mesenteric lymph glands were compared. The strains were found to possess different adaptability to white mice. The strain from white rats had the highest rate of adaptation, the strains from Norway rats and man showed lower adaptation rates, respectively.