Relationship between Giardiasis and Allergy in Children Referred to the Allergy Clinic of Tehran Children's Medical Center, 2003-2004

Human giardiasis is an infection produced by the flagellate protozoan, giardia lamblia, that is localized to the small bowel where it produces damage to the mucosa with or without gastrointestinal symptoms. This parasitosis has a worldwide distribution. Its incidence varies from 15 to 30%. Current evidence suggests that both humoral and cellular immune responses are involved in providing immunity to this parasitic infection. A number of reports have described the existence of allergic symptoms in persons with giardiasis. Furthermore, elevated levels of serum IgE and eosinophilia have also occasionally been described in this infection. Due to the importance of this issue in children, it seems essential to evaluate the relationship between giardiasis and allergy so that we can help physicians with the diagnosis and treatment of these patients. Patients & From January 2003 to December 2004, we evaluated a group of 125 children under 15 admitted to the Allergy Clinic of Children’s Medical Center as a case group and also a group of 125 children with no allergic signs admitted to the Internal Clinic of the same center as a control group. Both groups had already been matched when we performed three fecal examinations and measured their total serum IgE and eosinophilia. We found out that 20(16%) out of 125 allergic children were infected with giardia lamblia. In addition, 16 of the children infected with G.lamblia showed significantly higher levels of total IgE. Like previous studies that showed a relationship between giardiasis and skin allergy the results of the present study revealed a relationship between giardiasis and the level of total IgE(P<0.05), which can account for a relationship between giardiasis and skin allergy(p<0.05). However, we didn’t see a clear relationship between giardiasis and peripheral blood eosinophilia(p>0.05).