High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children.
BACKGROUND: Giardia duodenalis is highly endemic in East Africa but its effects on child health, particularly of submicroscopic infections, i.e., those below the threshold of microscopy, and of genetic subgroups (assemblages), are not well understood. We aimed at addressing these questions and at ex...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e144d5b84e56430ea0a71200ab23664f 2023-05-15T15:13:30+02:00 High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. Ralf Ignatius Jean Bosco Gahutu Christian Klotz Christian Steininger Cyprien Shyirambere Michel Lyng Andre Musemakweri Toni Aebischer Peter Martus Gundel Harms Frank P Mockenhaupt 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 https://doaj.org/article/e144d5b84e56430ea0a71200ab23664f EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3373622?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 https://doaj.org/article/e144d5b84e56430ea0a71200ab23664f PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 6, Iss 6, p e1677 (2012) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 2022-12-31T03:43:39Z BACKGROUND: Giardia duodenalis is highly endemic in East Africa but its effects on child health, particularly of submicroscopic infections, i.e., those below the threshold of microscopy, and of genetic subgroups (assemblages), are not well understood. We aimed at addressing these questions and at examining epidemiological characteristics of G. duodenalis in southern highland Rwanda. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In 583 children <5 years of age from communities and health facilities, intestinal parasites were assessed by triplicate light microscopy and by PCR assays, and G. duodenalis assemblages were genotyped. Cluster effects of villages were taken into account in statistical analysis. The prevalence of G. duodenalis as detected by microscopy was 19.8% but 60.1% including PCR results. Prevalence differed with residence, increased with age, and was reduced by breastfeeding. In 492 community children without, with submicroscopic and with microscopic infection, underweight (weight-for-age z-score <-2 standard deviations) was observed in 19.7%, 22.1%, and 33.1%, respectively, and clinically assessed severe malnutrition in 4.5%, 9.5%, and 16.7%. Multivariate analysis identified microscopically detectable G. duodenalis infection as an independent predictor of underweight and clinically assessed severe malnutrition. Submicroscopic infection showed respective trends. Overall, G. duodenalis was not associated with gastrointestinal symptoms but assemblages A parasites (proportion, 13%) were increased among children with vomiting and abdominal pain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The prevalence of G. duodenalis in high-endemicity areas may be greatly underestimated by light microscopy, particularly when only single stool samples are analysed. Children with submicroscopic infections show limited overt manifestation, but constitute unrecognized reservoirs of transmission. The predominance of assemblage B in Rwanda may be involved in the seemingly unimposing manifestation of G. duodenalis infection. However, the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 6 6 e1677 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Ralf Ignatius Jean Bosco Gahutu Christian Klotz Christian Steininger Cyprien Shyirambere Michel Lyng Andre Musemakweri Toni Aebischer Peter Martus Gundel Harms Frank P Mockenhaupt High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: Giardia duodenalis is highly endemic in East Africa but its effects on child health, particularly of submicroscopic infections, i.e., those below the threshold of microscopy, and of genetic subgroups (assemblages), are not well understood. We aimed at addressing these questions and at examining epidemiological characteristics of G. duodenalis in southern highland Rwanda. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In 583 children <5 years of age from communities and health facilities, intestinal parasites were assessed by triplicate light microscopy and by PCR assays, and G. duodenalis assemblages were genotyped. Cluster effects of villages were taken into account in statistical analysis. The prevalence of G. duodenalis as detected by microscopy was 19.8% but 60.1% including PCR results. Prevalence differed with residence, increased with age, and was reduced by breastfeeding. In 492 community children without, with submicroscopic and with microscopic infection, underweight (weight-for-age z-score <-2 standard deviations) was observed in 19.7%, 22.1%, and 33.1%, respectively, and clinically assessed severe malnutrition in 4.5%, 9.5%, and 16.7%. Multivariate analysis identified microscopically detectable G. duodenalis infection as an independent predictor of underweight and clinically assessed severe malnutrition. Submicroscopic infection showed respective trends. Overall, G. duodenalis was not associated with gastrointestinal symptoms but assemblages A parasites (proportion, 13%) were increased among children with vomiting and abdominal pain. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The prevalence of G. duodenalis in high-endemicity areas may be greatly underestimated by light microscopy, particularly when only single stool samples are analysed. Children with submicroscopic infections show limited overt manifestation, but constitute unrecognized reservoirs of transmission. The predominance of assemblage B in Rwanda may be involved in the seemingly unimposing manifestation of G. duodenalis infection. However, the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Ralf Ignatius Jean Bosco Gahutu Christian Klotz Christian Steininger Cyprien Shyirambere Michel Lyng Andre Musemakweri Toni Aebischer Peter Martus Gundel Harms Frank P Mockenhaupt |
author_facet |
Ralf Ignatius Jean Bosco Gahutu Christian Klotz Christian Steininger Cyprien Shyirambere Michel Lyng Andre Musemakweri Toni Aebischer Peter Martus Gundel Harms Frank P Mockenhaupt |
author_sort |
Ralf Ignatius |
title |
High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
title_short |
High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
title_full |
High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
title_fullStr |
High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
title_full_unstemmed |
High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children. |
title_sort |
high prevalence of giardia duodenalis assemblage b infection and association with underweight in rwandan children. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 https://doaj.org/article/e144d5b84e56430ea0a71200ab23664f |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 6, Iss 6, p e1677 (2012) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3373622?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 https://doaj.org/article/e144d5b84e56430ea0a71200ab23664f |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0001677 |
container_title |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e1677 |
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1766344052101349376 |