Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T12:46:08.049Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Iron status of schoolchildren with varying intensities of Trichuris trichiura infection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

D. D. Ramdath ,
D. T. Simeon ,
M. S. Wong  and
S. M. Grantham-McGregor
D. D. Ramdath
Affiliation:
Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mono, Kingston 7, Jamaica
D. T. Simeon
Affiliation:
Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mono, Kingston 7, Jamaica
M. S. Wong
Affiliation:
Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mono, Kingston 7, Jamaica
S. M. Grantham-McGregor
Affiliation:
Tropical Metabolism Research Unit, University of the West Indies, Mono, Kingston 7, Jamaica
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The relationship between varying intensities of Trichuris trichiura infection and iron status was examined in Jamaican schoolchildren, aged 7 to 11 years. A total of 409 children was identified with T. trichiura (epg > 1200). A control group comprised 207 uninfected children who were matched by school and class to every pair of infected subjects. Blood samples were obtained from 421 children: 264 infected and 157 controls. Compared to the rest of the children, those with heavy infections (epg > 10 000) had significantly lower (P < 0·05) Hb (11·5 ± 1·3 vs. 12·1 ± 1·1 g/dl), MCV (78·6 ± 6·3 vs. 81·2 ± 5·5 fl), MCH (26·2 ± 2·9 vs. 27·5 ± 2·5 pg) and MCHC (33·2 ± 1·5 vs. 33·9 ± 1·4 g/dl). Similarly, the prevalence of anaemia (Hb < 11·0 g/dl) amongst heavily infected children (33%) was significantly higher (P < 0·05) than the rest of the sample (11%). These differences remained significant after controlling for confounding variables including socio-economic status, age, gender, area of residence and the presence of Ascaris infections. Differences in red cell count, ferritin, and free erythrocyte protoporphyrin were not statistically significant and showed no association with the infectious load. These results suggest that in the Jamaican children studied, iron deficiency anaemia is associated with Trichuris infections over 10 000 epg, but not with less intense infections.

Keywords

anaemiaTrichurisferritinhaemoglobinfree erythrocyte protoporphyrin.
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 110 , Issue 3 , April 1995 , pp. 347 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abshire, T. C. & Reeves, J. D. (1983). Anaemia of acute inflammation in children. Journal of Pediatrics 103, 868–71.Google Scholar
Anon. (1985). Summary of a report on the assessment of the iron nutritional status of the United States population. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 42, 1318–30.Google Scholar
Bundy, D. A. P. (1986). Epidemiological aspects of Trichuris and trichuriasis in Caribbean communities. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 80, 702–18.Google Scholar
Bundy, D. A. P., Chandiwana, S. K., Homeida, M. M. A., Yoon, S. & Mott, K. E. (1991). The epidemiological implications of a multiple-infection approach to the control of human helminth infections. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 85, 274–6.Google Scholar
Bundy, D. A. P., Foreman, J. D. M. & Golden, M. H. N. (1985). Sodium azide preservation of faeces for Kato analysis. Parasitology 90, 463–9.Google Scholar
Chwang, L. (1988). Iron supplementation and physical growth of rural Indonesian children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 47, 496–505.Google Scholar
Cook, J. D. (1976). Evaluation of the iron status of a population. Blood 48, 449–55.Google Scholar
Cooper, E. S., Whyte-Alleng, C. A. M., Finzi-Smith, J. S. & McDonald, T. T. (1992). Intestinal nematode infections in children: the pathophysiological price paid. Parasitology 104 (Suppl.), S91–S103.Google Scholar
Dallman, P. R., Siimes, M. A. & Stekel, A. (1980). Iron deficiency in infancy and childhood. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 33, 86–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garn, S. M., Smith, N. J. & Clark, D. C. (1975). The magnitude and the implications of apparent race differences in hemoglobin values. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 28, 563–8.Google Scholar
Greenberg, E. R. & Cline, B. L. (1979). Is trichuriasis associated with iron deficiency anaemia? American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 28, 770–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L. K. & Beaver, P. C. (1968). Evaluation of Kato thick smear technique for quantitative diagnosis of helminth infection. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 17, 382–91.Google Scholar
Meyers, L. D., Habicht, J. P., Johnson, C. L. & Brownie, C. (1983). Prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency anaemia in black and white women in the United States estimated by two methods. American Journal of Public Health 73, 1032–49.Google Scholar
Nokes, C., Cooper, E. S., Robinson, B. A. & Bundy, D. A. P. (1991). Geohelminth infection and academic assessment in Jamaican children. Transactions of the Royal Society of Medicine and Hygiene 85, 272–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otto, G. F. (1935). Blood studies on Trichuris infested and worm-free children in Louisiana. American Journal of Tropical Medicine 15, 693–704.Google Scholar
Poimelli, S., Brickman, A. & Carlos, E. (1976). Rapid diagnosis of iron deficiency by measurement of free erythrocyte porphyrins and hemoglobin: the FEP/hemoglobin ratio. Paediatrics 57, 136–41.Google Scholar
Pollitt, E., Haas, J. & Levitsky, D. (1989). International conference on iron deficiency and behavioural development. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 565–705.Google Scholar
Rawlins, S. C., Campbell, M., Fox, K., Bennett, F., Gibbs, w. N. & Greene, M. (1991). Parasitic infections in young Jamaicans in different ecological zones of the island. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 43, 136–41.Google Scholar
Robertson, L. J., Crompton, D. W., Sanjur, D. & Nesheim, M. c. (1992). Hemoglobin concentrations and concomitant infections of hookworm and Trichuris trichiura in Panamanian primary school children. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, 654–6.Google Scholar
Simeon, D. & Grantham-McGregor, S. (1990). Nutritional deficiencies and children's behaviour and mental development. Nutrition Research Reviews 3, 1–24.Google Scholar
Worwood, M. (1979). Serum ferritin. CRC Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences 10, 171–204.Google Scholar