The presence of Giardia lamblia Infestation among healthy and undernourished Children under 5 years of age

Abstract

Background  Worldwide,  malnutrition  is  common  and  is  responsible directly or indirectly for about a third of all deaths of children under 5 years of age. Restrictive diets may be iatrogenic as a result of exclusion diets or parental food fads, or may be due to parasitic infection like Giardia lamblia which is a zoonotic parasitic disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Giardia  lamblia  (also  sometimes  called  Giardia  intestinalis  and  Giardia duodenalis). This study  aims to evaluate the occurrence of infection by Giardia lamblia among the malnourished children under five years.  Patients & Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was done on children attending the pediatric department, and nutrition department in General Pediatrics Hospital in Kirkuk from 15th of March to the last of August 2015. The study included 101 children, their age from (2 months -5 years).  Each  child  included  in  the  study  was  assessed  by  a  prepared questionnaire. Screening done by measuring weight for age, height for age, then diagnostic test done by depending on weight for height to confirm diagnosis or exclude malnutrition. Each malnourished case was sent for general stool examination. 
The Results: The males were 56.4 % while female were  43.6% most of the cases were of 2-12 month for both females (47.4%) and males (54.5%) respectively.. Other findings for this study showed that all the cases were wasted (100%) followed by abdominal distention  (60.4%) and finally most of the study cases were below 3rd percentile 73.3%.Regarding the general stool examination , the laboratory examination showed that  positive test for Giardia lamblia were 12 cases, (11.9%) most of the study cases had normal Middle  Arm  Circumference    (88.1%)  and  most  pateints  with  Giardia lamblia  had  weight for  age  less  than  3rd  percentile  (83.3%)  and  most Giardia lamblia positive patients had height for age less than 3rd percentile while negative Giardia lamblia infection had normal height for age (100%). Finally the present study concluded that Giardia lamblia is still prevalent among malnourished cases.