TITLE:
Anemia Associated with Plasmodium falciparum and Intestinal Parasitosis in Malnourished Children Aged 0 to 5 Years in N’Djamena Province, Chad
AUTHORS:
Bessimbaye Nadlaou, Habiba Hamid Alfal, Ali Senoussi Moukhtar, Bakarnga-Via Issakou, Issa Ramat Adam, Abdoullahi Ousman Hissein, Djimenan Boilengar, Abakar Idriss Lawane, Hamit Mahamat Alio, Abdelsalam Tidjani
KEYWORDS:
Malnourished Child, Anemia, Malaria, Intestinal Parasitosis, N’Djamena
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.16 No.12,
December
23,
2024
ABSTRACT: Objective: Malaria and intestinal parasitosis represent real public health problems in the world, in Africa and in Chad. They remain common diseases affecting many people, particularly malnourished children, who remain the most vulnerable. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of malaria and intestinal parasitosis in malnourished children with anemia. Material and methods: This study included 325 malnourished children aged 0 to 5 years admitted to the Therapeutic Nutrition Units of the two hospitals in the province of N’Djamena. The children were sampled and diagnosed with malaria by thick drop and intestinal parasitosis by the Willis method, and the hemoglobin dosage was carried out using the HemoCue Hb 301 + analyzer. Results: Of the 325 malnourished children with a mean age of 16.59 months, 273 (84%) were diagnosed positive for malaria and intestinal parasitosis, 52 (16%) were malnourished children due to nutrient deficiencies unrelated to parasites (ρ = 0.001). Of the 273 malnourished children with parasites, 187 (68.5%) were diagnosed positive for Plasmodium falciparum malaria associated with different types of anemia, 48 (17.6%) harbored intestinal parasites in association with different types of anemia and 38 (14%) cases of malaria-intestinal parasitosis coinfection. The parasitic index showed a predominance of protozoa 46% of Entamoeba histolytica. Conclusion: This study determined high prevalence’s of intestinal and blood parasites associated with anemia in malnourished children. Malnutrition is an aggravating factor for parasitosis, but treatment in specialized units with antiparasitic, iron Malnutrition is an aggravating factor in parasitic infections, but periodic deworming with antiparasitic and antimalarial drugs in cases of fever could have contributed to the reduction in the prevalence of digestive parasitic infections and malaria in malnourished children in the province of N’Djamena.