Socio-Economic Factors Associated with Intestinal Parasites Among Children Living in Gombak, Malaysia

Abstract

Fecal specimens collected from 456 school children in Gombak, Malaysia, revealed an overall prevalence rate of 62.9%. The most common parasite found was Trichuris trichiura(47.1%) followed by Giardia intestinalis(14.7%), Entamoeba coli(11.4%), Entamoeba histolytica(9.9%) and Ascaris lumbricoides(7.9%). Infection rates were high among the Indonesian immigrant workers' children (90%) followed by the Orang Asli(79.5%), Malay (59.4%) and Indians (36.4%). Females (66.3%) had a higher prevalence rate than the males (58.5%). The prevalence of infection was found to be associated with the socio-economic status, water supply, sanitary disposal of feces and family size. Albendazole administered as a single dose (400 mg) was found to be effective against Ascaris (100%) and hookworm (92.3%) but was not effective against Trichuris(39.2%).