Epidemiology of acute diarrheal diseases among Children under five in Gaza Strip: Post war community based study

Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old, and is responsible for killing around 760 000 children every year. To study the determinants and the magnitude of acute diarrheal diseases one month after the cessation of the third Israeli aggression against Gaza Strip and to assess its burden among the children under five. This is cross sectional design study. Data has been collected throughout Gaza Strip. The sample size included 705 women from three governorates were surveyed out of five. Eligible women were interviewed using a pre designed, pre tested interview questionnaire. The period (last month) and the point (24 hours) prevalence rates of diarrheal diseases among children under five years were 46.1% and 17.7% respectively. The Sex of the child had no significant effect on both point and period prevalence of diarrhea. More than sixty percent (63.3%) of period prevalence of diarrhea was recorded among children that have no exclusive breastfeeding before. There are no significant differences for the point prevalence as a result of introducing the complementary feeding. Period and point prevalence rates of diarrhea were not significantly related to the room number. Both rates were higher for children in homes without refrigerators but only significant for point prevalence. It was found that 62.1% of the mother increased fluid intake, 54% of them used ORS. Drugs like anti diarrhea and herbal drugs were used by (61.4% and 40.3%) respectively of the participating mothers. Cleaning of drinking water tanks and the domestic tanks have played a role in reducing the occurrence of diarrhea among

Anaemia among school children aged 6-11 years old in Gaza Strip, Palestine

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6-11 old years due to causes other than parasitic infections. The present study was a cross-sectional study that included 1446 school children of both sexes, distributed in three localities (Khanyounis, Gaza and Beit-lahia) of Gaza strip. The cut-off point for anaemia was determined according to the mean of haemoglobin for all studied school age children, which was (12 g/dl) in accordance to WHO criteria. The observed mean level of Hb was 12 g/dl; standard deviation was 0.915 while the normal value is ranged between 8.9-15.2. Anaemia was found slightly higher in girls (36.3%) than boys (34%). The results showed that anaemia constitute a health problem in Gaza with a prevalence of 35.3%. No variation in the prevalence of anaemia among the three studies areas. It is concluded that anaemia still constitutes a health problem among schoolchildren with a present prevalence among school–age children of 35.3%. It is expected that the prevalence of anaemia may be higher than that reported by this study due to Israeli siege to Gaza Strip

Occurrence of gastrointestinal helminths in commercial and free-range chickens in Gaza Strip, Palestine

The present study compared the prevalence of helminthes parasites in two chicken breeds in Gaza strip, the commercial and the freerange indigenous. Gastrointestinal tracts of 100 commercial growers and 90 free-range indigenous chickens collected from Gaza city were examined for helminthes during 2007–2008. The commercial chickens were free of helminthes while the indigenous chickens were encountered five helminthes, three nematodes and two cestodes. The nematodes identified were Ascaridia galli (75.6%), Heterakis gallinarum (68.9%) and Capillaria spp.(2.2%). The cestodes were, Raillietina echinobothrida (57.8%) and Choanotaenia infundibulum (26.7%). No trematode was found. The intensity of parasites was low except for H. gallinarum. It was concluded that the indigenous chickens were infected with some types of cestodes and nematodes in Gaza markets. Sanitations and public health should be of concerned for both health authorities, consumers and farmers owners

Trends of intestinal parasites prevalence in the Gaza Strip, 1998-2007: the use of government health records

To evaluate the amount of intestinal parasite infections over a 10-year period in the Gaza Strip. Materials and methods: Data from the Epidemiology Department, Ministry of Health were collected and analyzed statistically. The prevalence of intestinal parasites was monitored and studied for the period 1998-2007. Results: The present study shows results including the records of 471,688 patients (all ages) who had every provided 1 stool specimen to the laboratories of primary health care centers in one of the 5 governorates of the Gaza Strip. It was found that 116,261 specimens were positive for intestinal parasites, representing an overall prevalence of 24.6%. Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia were the most frequently detected intestinal parasites; there is a clear variation in the prevalence of intestinal parasites due to season. Conclusion: Intestinal parasites still constitute a health problem and there were fluctuations in the prevalence from 1998 to 2007. It is recommended that there is a need for health authorities to review health records periodically and examination of stool specimens by one method should be reviewed

Gastrointestinal parasites of the roucktail rock agama, Laudakia stellio from Gaza Strip, Palestine

Palestine is located to the east of the Mediterranean Sea between 29 and 33 North latitude 35 and 39 longitude, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are two regions in Palestine. Parasitological examination of the gastrointestinal tract of 67 roucktail rock agamas (Laudakia stellio) from the Gaza Strip, Palestine recovered 2 species of nematodes, Parapharyngodon bulbosus and Strongyluris calotis, 1 species of cestode Oochoristica tuberculata and 1 species of ciliated protozoan

Is Gaza sandy shoreline region contaminated with human gastrointestinal parasites?

The study was implemented to test if the sandy shoreline of Gaza city is contaminated with human gastrointestinal parasites or not and to determine the types of intestinal parasites and the extent of contamination. A total of 104 sand samples (52 dry sand and 52 wet sand) were analyzed during the summer season period. Samples were collected from the study area of about 12km along the seashore region of Gaza City. Dry samples and wet sand samples were analyzed using water-sedimentation technique and a light microscope. The results showed that the percentage of the parasitic contamination was 40.4% of the wet sand samples and 34.6% of the dry sand samples along the shoreline region of the Gaza City. The human gastrointestinal parasites detected were the following: Ascaris lumbricoides, S. stercoralis, E. vermicularis, E. histolytica/dispar, G. lamblia, E. coli and Taenia. spp. The findings showed that

Enterobiasis among Pre-School Children in Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Background: Enterobius is one of the common nematode causing health problem in developing countries. The aim of the present study was to estimates the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis in Gaza Strip. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study which included 149 pre-school children who are residing in four Governorates in Gaza Strip; north Gaza, Gaza, mid zone and Khanyounis in Gaza Strip. Scotch tape preparation (STP) was used for the detection of E. vermicularis eggs. Results: Children with employee father had high prevalence of E. vermicularis with a percentage of (47.3%) while those with un-employee father had a percentage of (45.7%) but there was no significant difference. The same results were found with working mother. Families with low family income had children with low rate of E. vermicularis (40.5%) but families with high family income had children with high rate of E. vermicularis (52.8%). Children who are drinking water from filters had high rate of E. vermicularis than others who are drinking from other sources (65%) with a significant difference (p= 0.003). Conclusion: The study concluded that enterobiasis constituted a high prevalence among pre-school children in Gaza strip (46.3%). These results may shed the light on an infectious disease in Gaza Strip and help health authorities to take serious measures for prevention and control, and educate peoples towards the biology of Enterobius