Authors:
Anita Tallib
1
;
Adibah Hanum Sahari
2
and
Nazar Mohd Zabadi B. Mohd Azahar
2
Affiliations:
1
School of Distance Education, Biology Section, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang 11800, Malaysia
;
2
Department Faculty of Health Science, University Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Bertam, Penang, Malaysia
Keyword(s):
Ethnobiology, intestinal parasitic infections, helminths, indigenous children, polyparasitism
Abstract:
Intestinal parasitic infections among indigenous children have been identified as one of the important public health problems among the disadvantaged population. The prevalence of these infections causes significant illnesses and diseases among children. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and their associated risk factors among children aged 2 to 14 years in Perkampungan Orang Asli Ulu Gerik, Perak. A total of 75 faecal samples were obtained in this study. Results from our study showed that the intestinal parasitic infections were prevalent among indigenous children. Infection by Trichuris trichiura was the most common infection (65.3%), followed by Hookworm (46.7%), Ascaris lumbricoides (42.7%) and Entamoeba spp. (16.0). Only 1.3% of children had Giardia spp. infection. More than half of the children in this study had polyparasitism representing 54.7%. Social and environmental factors such as Father’s occupation (p
=0.019), water sources (p=0.039), type of toilet (p=0.026) and intake of the supplement (p=0.021) were significantly associated with polyparasitism. Promotion of preventive measures such as deworming, increase of awareness on healthy lifestyle and improvement in housing facilities are urgently needed to reduce the intestinal parasitic infections in this community
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