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- Title
Giardiasis amongst the Aboriginal School Children at Sungai Raba Village Gerik, Perak, Malaysia.
- Authors
Nantha Kumar Jeyaprakasam; Mohamed Kamel Abd Ghani
- Abstract
Introduction: Infection by intestinal protozoan Giardia intestinalis (synonym of Giardia duodenalis and Giardia lamblia) is a parasitic infection which are commonly associated with diarrhoeal disease worldwide particularly more prevalent among the aboriginal populations. Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of giardiasis among aboriginal school children at Sungai Raba Village, Gerik, Perak Malaysia and also to identify the possible risk factors. Materials & methods: Cross-sectional study was carried out among 139 volunteered aboriginal school children aged between 6 to 13 years old (66 boys and 73 girls). The stool specimens were collected and screened by the direct fecal smear method followed by formalin ether concentration technique. Results: The overall prevalence of Giardia infection in this population is 15.1%. Males had higher prevalence rate of 24.2% compared to female counterpart (6.8%). The highest infection rate was observed in school children aged between 8-9 years (24.4%). Generally, formalin ether concentration techniques had shown a higher percentage of detection rate compared to direct fecal smear. Conclusion: Giardia infection among the aboriginal children at Sungai Raba Village, Gerik still indicates a relatively low health standard of this indigenous community. Promoting awareness of good personal hygiene is definitely one of the measures to control this infection. Periodic screening might also be helpful in keeping track with the prevalence of this infection to enable the public health authorities to strategize action plan to reduce Giardia infection rate among the aboriginal communities in Malaysia.
- Subjects
MALAYSIA; FECAL analysis; ORANG Asal (Malaysian people); COLLECTION &; preservation of biological specimens; CHILDREN'S health; FORMALDEHYDE; GIARDIASIS; PUBLIC health; STUDENT health; ADOLESCENT health; DISEASE prevalence; CROSS-sectional method; DISEASE risk factors
- Publication
International Medical Journal, 2019, Vol 26, Issue 5, p399
- ISSN
1341-2051
- Publication type
Article