Open AccessPrevalence and risk factors of intestinal parasitic infections among hill tribe schoolchildren, Northern Thailand
Author(s) -
Tawatchai Apidechkul
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
asian pacific journal of tropical disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.208
H-Index - 33
ISSN - 2222-1808
DOI - 10.1016/s2222-1808(15)60915-x
Subject(s) - odds ratio , confidence interval , medicine , risk factor , demography , logistic regression , tribe , intestinal parasite , veterinary medicine , environmental health , helminths , immunology , sociology , anthropology
Objective: To study the prevalence and risk factors of intestinal parasitic infections among\udhill tribe schoolchildren who attended 10 border patrol police schools in 2012, Chiang Rai,\udThailand.\udMethods: A total of 339 subjects were recruited into the study from 2 194 children.\udQuestionnaire was tested for validity and reliability before use. About 5 g stool specimens\udwere collected and investigated for intestinal parasite infections by using cellophane-covered\udthick smear technique. Logistic regression at α = 0.05 was used to test the associations between\udvariables to find risk factors.\udResults: There were 339 subjects of whom 51.9% were males and 66.1% were Buddhist;\udracially 31.2% were Akha and 30.4% were Kmong; mean age was 10.3 years old (minimum\ud= 6, maximum = 16). The prevalence of parasitic infection was 9.7%. After controlling for\udage, sex, religion, parents’ education levels and parents’ occupations, the only factor that\udshowed a statistically significant association with intestinal parasitic infection was the source\udof drinking water. The group of drinking mountain piped water had a greater risk of 8.22 times\ud(adjusted odds ratio = 8.22, 95%; confidence interval: 1.07–63.18) compared to the drinking\udcommercially bottled water group, while the group of drinking underground water had a\udgreater risk of 9.83 times (adjusted odds ratio = 9.83, 95%; confidence interval: 0.93–104.12)\udcompared to the drinking commercially bottled water group.\udConclusions: Drinking water contaminated by soil was shown to be an important risk factor for\udintestinal parasitic infection in hill tribe schoolchildren living in mountainous border areas in\udthe northern part of Thailand. Safer alternative drinking water source should be provided along\udwith health education for schools and villagers to be aware of the risk of intestinal parasites\udfrom drinking water sources such as mountain piped or underground wells. Such sources are\udlikely to contain higher soil contents