Intestinal parasitic infections in Zahedan day-care units

The prevalence of infection with bowel parasites is still remarkably high in children of developing countries. Day-care units usually serve for the infants and children as their primary site of social contact; so we aimed to determine the frequency rate of bowel infections in children attending these places, on their arrival and comparing it with this frequency 4-6 months afterwards. Methods and Materials: In this descriptive-analytic longitudinal study performed during the latter half of 1378, a total of 853 children of 4-6 years were randomly selected from day-care units of different regions in Zahedan. After recording the demographic data, a direct stool exam, scatch test and formaline-etter test were done. In the first stage 411 and in the next stage (4-6 months later) 438 children were studied. Chi-square test was used to compare the infection rate between the first and second stages. The rate of infected children was 19.1% and 42% in the first and the second stages respectively. The highest increase in infection rate belonged to Oxyuris which increased from 4.7% in stage one to 15.5% in stage two. The rate of infection with Giardia lambelia and Hemonolepsis nana was 10.6% and 3.1% in stage one, which respectively raised to 15% and 4.6% in stage two. The above increment was significant (P<0.05). Totally 835 children all younger than 6 years old were studied in the two stages of which 263 (30.8%) had at least one type of infection. The frequency of infection with Oxyuris was 78 in 785 prepared slides. Considering the life cycle of bowel parasites and their routes of transmission, it seems that we face shortness in knowledge of workers in day-care centers and also an insufficiency in practice of sanitary principles. A closer study of effective factors in transmission of infestation in these centers and their elimination, periodically testing the children and their care-givers, and finally programs of hygiene education and control for the workers seems a necessity.