↓ Skip to main content

Intestinal parasite infections and associated risk factors among schoolchildren in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts, Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, September 2018
Altmetric Badge

Mentioned by

twitter
2 X users

Citations

dimensions_citation
29 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
127 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
Intestinal parasite infections and associated risk factors among schoolchildren in Dolakha and Ramechhap districts, Nepal: a cross-sectional study
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, September 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13071-018-3105-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Akina Shrestha, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Jana Gerold, Séverine Erismann, Subodh Sharma, Rajendra Koju, Jürg Utzinger, Guéladio Cissé

Abstract

Infections with soil-transmitted helminths and pathogenic intestinal protozoa pose a considerable public health burden, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including Nepal. We assessed the extent of intestinal parasite infections among schoolchildren in two districts of Nepal and determined underlying risk factors. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and May 2015 in the districts of Dolakha and Ramechhap, Nepal. A total of 708 children, aged 8-16 years from 16 purposively selected schools, were enrolled. Each child provided a single stool sample that was subjected to a suite of copro-microscopic diagnoses for intestinal protozoa and helminths. Drinking water samples from different sources at schools (n = 29), community places (n = 43) and households (n = 562) were analysed for contamination with thermotolerant coliforms (TTC). A questionnaire was administered to determine individual- and household-level risk factors of intestinal parasite infections. Self-reported symptoms were assessed and a clinical examination was undertaken by a physician. Haemoglobin was measured and used as a proxy for anaemia. Mixed logistic regression models were applied to investigate associations. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasite infections was 39.7%. Trichuris trichiura (30.9%), Giardia intestinalis (30.5%) and hookworm (30.2%) were the predominant intestinal parasite infections. Children from households lacking soap for handwashing were at higher odds of intestinal parasite infections than children who had soap [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13-2.89; P = 0.01]. Children from households without freely roaming domestic animals showed lower odds of G. intestinalis compared to children from households with freely roaming animals (aOR 0.52; 95% CI: 0.33-0.83; P = 0.01). One out of three (31.0%) children suffered from fever and 22.4% had watery diarrhoea within a two-week recall period. Anaemia was diagnosed in 23.6% of the children. Water contamination with TTC showed no clear association with intestinal parasite infection. Intestinal parasites are common among schoolchildren in the two surveyed districts of Nepal. An important risk factor was lack of soap for handwashing. Our findings call for efforts to control intestinal parasite infection and emphasis should be placed on improvements in water, sanitation and hygiene interventions. ISRCTN17968589 (date assigned: 17 July 2015).

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 127 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 127 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 22 17%
Student > Master 16 13%
Researcher 9 7%
Student > Ph. D. Student 6 5%
Lecturer 6 5%
Other 14 11%
Unknown 54 43%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 24 19%
Nursing and Health Professions 12 9%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 6 5%
Environmental Science 5 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 4 3%
Other 21 17%
Unknown 55 43%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 October 2018.
All research outputs
#18,650,639
of 23,105,443 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#4,277
of 5,524 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#261,607
of 342,007 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#74
of 106 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,105,443 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,524 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 342,007 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 13th percentile – i.e., 13% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 106 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 16th percentile – i.e., 16% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.