Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and anemia among pregnant  women attending antenatal clinic at Durbete Primary Hospital, North West Ethiopia

Melkamu, Alemu

dc.contributor.author	Melkamu, Alemu
dc.date.accessioned	2019-09-03T09:05:14Z
dc.date.available	2019-09-03T09:05:14Z
dc.date.issued	2019-09-03
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/9657
dc.description.abstract	Intestinal parasitic infections are common worldwide and are the major causes of malnutrition and anemia among pregnant women. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections, anemia, and associated risk factors among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in Durbete Primary Hospital, northwest Ethiopia. Across-sectional Hospital based study involving 384 pregnant women was conducted from November 2018 to February 2019. Stool samples were collected and analyzed for the presence and types of intestinal parasites using wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques. Modified ZiehlNeelsen technique was employed for the diagnosis of Cryptosporidium spp. Blood was collected and analyzed for hemoglobin (Hb) level.The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was 39.1 %. Ten different species of intestinal parasites were found: two protozoans and eight helminth species. No result was found for Cryptosporidium spp. It might be the limitation of the study diagnosis techinique.The highest prevalence was due to Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (14.6 %) followed by hookworm (8.3 %). The other infections identified were Giardia lamblia (7 %), Ascaris lumbricoides (3.4 %), Strongyloides stercoralis (1.6 %), Schistosoma mansoni (1.6 %), Taenia spp (1 %), Hymenolepis nana (0.8 %), Trichuris trichiura (0.5%) and Enterobius vermicularis (0.3 %) respectively. The overall prevalence of anemia in this study was 8.1 %. The mean Hb value was 13.1 ± 0.07g/dl with the range of 6.5-18.5 (Hb) level. Of the anemic pregnant women, 61.3 % , 29 % and 9.7 % had mild, moderate, and severe anemia, respectively.The result of multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that the odds of being infected with intestinal parasites were high among pregnant women who did not cut their finger nails (AOR=7.66, 95 % CI= 1.23, 47.6); among those did not wash their hands after toilet (AOR=6.11, 95 % CI=2.59, 14.2); among those who had contact with mice (AOR=2.66, 95 % CI=1.17, 6.03), and among those who cleaned their home gardens (AOR=2.44, 95 % CI, 1.03-5.63). Relatively high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections was observed among pregnant women. Provision of health education, improving water sanitation and hygiene programs and routine stool examination and deworming of pregnant mothers may help to reduce the burden of both intestinal parasitic infection and anemia in pregnant women.	en_US
dc.language.iso	en	en_US
dc.subject	BIOLOGY	en_US
dc.title	Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Durbete Primary Hospital, North West Ethiopia	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US