Prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections, Stunting and its predisposing factors among school- Age children in dedo town, southwestern ethiopia

Abstract

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are a group of neglected tropical diseases that causes the most common infections worldwide and primarily affect marginalized populations in lowand middle income countries.World Health Organization estimated that more than 1.5 billion people, or 24% of the world’s population, majorly children infected with intestinal parasites caused by STH. The majority of the infections are due to ascariasis, hookworm infections and trichiuriasis(1). The STH commonly infecting humans include the roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), and the hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus). Although each species has specific characteristics, they are grouped together for control purposes, as they have (i) similar geographical distribution and at-risk groups; (ii) treated by the same medication; (iii) diagnosed by using similar tools; and (iv) similar mechanism of negative impact on human health (2). Soil-transmitted helminths are transmitted by eggs passed in the feces of infected persons. If the infected person defecates outside or if the human feces are used as fertilizer, eggs are deposited on soil. They can then mature into infective form that can infect others. Adult worms live in the intestine and produce thousands of eggs daily, and then these eggs contaminate the soil in several ways: they attach to vegetables and are ingested when the raw and unwashed vegetables are consumed, ingested from contaminated water sources, ingested by children who play in the contaminated soil and then put their hands in their mouths without washing them. In case of hookworms, the primary mode of infection is walking barefoot on contaminated soil(3). Undernutrition refers to a state resulting from a relative or absolute deficiency of one or more essential nutrients. The three main indicators used to define undernutrition are stunting, underweight and wasting which represent different nutritional problems for the child and they are measured by the indices of height-for-age, weight-for-height, and weight-for-age, respectively (4). There has been some progress in reducing undernutrition, but it has been too slow and not spread across all forms of undernutrition. Several countries are on course to meet at least one of the globally adopted nutrition targets set for 2025, but most are off-track and none are making progress on the full suite of targets (5). 2 Nutritional status of children is impaired by STH in a number of ways; they feed on host tissues, including blood, which leads to a loss of iron and protein, they increase the malabsorption of nutrients and they compete for Nutrients (6). Some STH also cause loss of appetite and, therefore, a reduction of nutritional intake and physical fitness (2),in particular T. trichiura can cause diarrhea and dysentery (7). Economically disadvantaged children living in tropical and sub-tropical regions with limited or no access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, and substandard housing are the most affected ones (3). The study aimed to determine the prevalence of STH, stunting and their associated factors mong SAC as there were no reports at this study area