Pattern of Acute Parasitic Diarrhea in Children Under Five Years of Age in Kathmandu, Nepal

Abstract

Diarrheal diseases are major problem of developing countries. Though precise data on childhood mortality associated with diarrheal diseases in Nepal is not available, it has been estimated that approximately 25% of child death are asso-ciated with diarrheal disease, particularly acute diarrhea. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence of para-sitic pathogens causing acute diarrhea in children under 5 years of age. A total of 525 children with acute diarrhea in a children's hospital of Kathmandu, Nepal were enrolled between April 2011 and September 2011. The higher prevalence of diarrhea was in the age group of less than 2 years. Out of total 525 enrolled cases, protozoal parasites were found in 10.7% (56/525) of cases and helminthic parasites were found in 1.3% (7/525) of cases. Highest prevalence of 60.3% (38/63) of parasitic infection was found in the age group of 6 -24 months followed by 7.9% (5/63) in the age group of less than 6 months. Of the total enrolled cases E. histolytica were 6.7% (35/525) followed by Giardial lamblia 3.4% (18/525) and the least frequency was due to A. lumbricoides constituting 0.6% (3/525). The aim of this study was to know the parasitic agents causing acute diarrhea in children.