Frequency of Cryptosporidium and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in under 5-year old hospitalized children due to diarrhea

Background: Recently Cryptosporidium has gained much attention as a clinically human pathogen in immunocompromised cases and young children. This study investigated frequency and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in under 5-year old children. Patients and methods: Stools were examined by ELISA method to detect Cryptosporidium surface antigen (CSA) using Remel Prospect Cryptosporidium (monoclonal) Microplate Assay. Stool samples were collected from children at admission and were kept at -70°C until examination. Data were collected by a standard questionnaire and analysed in Epi info 2002 software. Results: Of 171 children, 8(5) were infected with Cryptosporidium. Most of the cases (6 cases) aged 2-12 months. Boys were more frequently infected than girls (p<0.05). Meanwhile, cryptosporidiosis was associated with less breastfeeding and lower birth weight (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results revealed that the frequency of cryptosporidiosis was similar to other parts of the world. Similarly, lower birth weight, less breast-feeding and male gender were associated with a higher frequency of cryptosporidiosis. ©2009 IDTMRC, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center

Blastocystis Hominis infection among hospitalized children due to diarrhea in Hajar Hospital, Shahre-Kord, Iran

Background: Blastocystis hominisis is an intestinal protozoan, recently known as a potential pathogen, which causes intestinal disorders, especially in children. The parasite has a worldwide distribution, ranged from 2 up to 30 in some regions. Objectives: Given no specific study focused on infection rate of B. hominis in children with diarrhea in Iran, this study was carried out to detect frequency of the parasite in children with diarrhea. Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study from September 2009 to July 2010, one hundred and sixty hospitalized children with diarrhea in Hajar Hospital, Shahre-Kord, Iran were enrolled. Stool samples were collected and were examined microscopically in wet direct smear using normal saline and iodine solution (Lugol). Furthermore, permanent trichrome stain was performed and all stools were stained and studied with oil immersion's lens (100 ×). Results: Out of 160 stool samples were examined, in 37 cases (23) including 25 boys and 12 girls, B. hominis was the most frequent protozoa, followed by Giardia lamblia in 19 cases (12). E. histolitica/dispare were detected only in two cases (1). Conclusions: The frequency of B. hominis in the study was more than other reports from Iran. This study revealed that among hospitalized children with diarrhea, B. hominis was the most common protozoon. © 2012, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciencces

Intestinal parasitic infections in chronic psychiatric patients in Sina Hospital Shahre-Kord, Iran

Background: Although the number of infectious diseases has sharply decreased in last few decades, parasitic diseases persist in developing countries. On the other hand, chronic psychiatric patients tend to have low self-control, poor personal hygiene, long term institutionalization and extremely low self-care should be monitored for parasitic diseases since psychosocial conditions can contribute to an affinity for infectious diseases

Risk factors for hospitalization of children with diarrhea in Shahrekord, Iran

Background: Diarrheal infections are responsible for over a quarter of all childhood mortality worldwide. The present study was performed to establish risk factors for hospitalization of children with diarrhea in Shahrekord, Iran. Materials and methods: For this case-control study, cases were selected through children hospitalized due to acute diarrhea lasting less than 14 days and controls were compromised of children with a clinical diagnosis of acute diarrhea lasting for less than 14 days who did not require hospitalization. Controls were selected from out-patient department (OPD) or 3 primary health care centers. Results: The study population included 259 hospitalized children (cases), 245 OPD and 245 primary health centres controls. In total, bloody diarrhea, dehydration, breastfeeding for ≤6 months, history of hospitalization in the previous year, lack of access to safe water, keeping animals at home and the presence of watery stool were associated with an increased risk of hospitalization during univariate analysis. However, multivariate analysis revealed that bloody diarrhea, watery stool, vomiting, use of unsafe water, prior hospitalization, and the presence of rotavirus or salmonella in the stool were independent factors increasing the risk of hospitalization. Conclusion: Our results indicate that improving environmental sanitation, socio-economic status and establishing training programs for parents can reduce risk of hospitalization due to diarrhea in children

Diarrhea-associated micronutrient deficiencies and risk of subsequent diarrhea in admitted children to Hajar hospital in Shahrekord, Iran

Background: Acute infectious diarrhea is still one of the most important causes of death in childhood and malnutrition increases its morbidity and mortality. There is a strong correlation between the nutritional status of the child and the risk of subsequent diarrhea. Micronutrient deficiencies also increase the child’s susceptibility to diarrhea and vitamin A and zinc supplementation has been shown to reduce the incidence and hasten recovery from acute diarrhea episodes. Materials and methods: This study describes the association of nutritional deficiencies and other factors on the risk of subsequent diarrhea in children in Shahrekord, Iran. A cohort of 211 children less than 5 years old admitted with acute diarrhea to Hajar Hospital in Shahrekord, were followed for 14 weeks after hospital discharge. Results: Fifty-eight (27%) of these children developed a new diarrhea episode during the follow up period. Children who were vitamin A and zinc deficient at the time of admission, above 12 months of age, kept animals at home or had weight-for-age and weight-for-height z scores <-1 during the univariate analysis had a higher risk of experiencing subsequent diarrhea. Vitamin A and zinc deficiencies, keeping animals at home, diarrhea duration ≤ 4 days on enrolment and weight-for-age z score <-1 reminded as independent risk factors during multivariate analysis. The aggregation of these factors had a synergistic effect on the risk of subsequent diarrhea. Conclusion: Children with micronutrient deficiencies and in contact with animal had the highest risk of suffering subsequent diarrhea. Our findings support the current approach of providing multiple micronutrient supplements for the prevention of infection in order to reduce mortality in children

Effect of Valeriana officinalis hydroalcoholic extracton Giardia lamblia cysts

ntroduction: Giardia lamblia is an important and prevalent parasitic cause of diarrhea andgastroenteritis. Regarding the significance of giardiasis treatment particularly by medicinal plantsand G. lamblia resistance to chemical drugs, this study was conducted to study in vitro effect ofValeriana officinalis hydroalcoholic extract on G. lamblia cysts.Methods: In this experimental, laboratory study the hydroalcoholic extract of V. officinalis atconcentrations of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg/mL was applied on G. lamblia cysts. The findingswere compared with controls.Results: Mean results of the effect of V. officinalis hydroalcoholic extract at different concentrationson G. lamblia cysts after 1, 6 and 24 hours demonstrated that the extract at all concentrations causeda notable decrease in alive cysts, with more intensive effect at 100 and 200 mg/mL concentrationsand 100 fatality after 1 hour. As the extract concentration decreased, the speed of G. lamblia cystsinhibition declined.Conclusion: V. officinalis hydroalcoholic extract might be recommended as an effective compoundfor removing G. lamblia protozoan cysts, although further studies are needed to show this effect onhuman

Prevalence of Cryptosporidium and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in hospitalized children under 5 years of age due to diarrhea (Shahrekord-2005)

& Objective: Cryptosporidium is a cosmopolitan protozoan parasite which is recently known as one of the main causes of diarrhea in children and immunocompromised cases. Majority of studies on this parasite in the last 3 decades focusing on immunocompromised cases has been reported from developed countries and no comprehensive study has evaluated the prevalence and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in Iran. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and risk factors related to ..

Seroepidemiological study of Toxoplasma gondii infection of mentally retarded patients (Chahrmahal Va Bakhtiari Province, Iran)

Toxoplasmosis is a widespread zoonosis disease in the world. Although the infection by Toxoplasmo gondii is widely prevalent, the disease is not common and the most of acquired infections are asymptomatic. Whereas congenital Toxoplasmosis can occur with passing the trophozoite of the parasite from mother to child and the important aspect of this parasitic infection are the probable danger of congenital transmission and its severe effects of the fetus. In this case- control study, a total of 108 mentally-retarded cases inhabited in 3 rehabilitation centers and 50 apparently healthy donors as a control were screened to detect Toxoplasmosis antibodies. In this study serum of all participants (including mental retard & voluntary blood donors) were kept at - 20°C until laboratory examination. Samples were tested by commercial kit to detect anti Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies. The survey showed that 35.2 of the mental retard group and 30 of control group had anti Toxoplasma IgG and IgM antibodies. From 31 cases in the group of mental retard who were positive for IgG antibody of Toxoplasmosis, 22 cases were male and 9 cases were female that indicated a positive relationship between presence of anti Toxoplasma IgG antibody and being male (P<0.05). Out of 50 volunteer blood donors 15 cases (30) had IgG and IgM antibodies of Toxoplasma gondii and statistic tests showed that there was no significant difference between cases and controls for IgG and IgM antibodies of Toxoplasma gondii. The rate of Toxoplasma infection in the mentally retarded group was approximately the same as in the normal control group that indicated Toxoplasmosis is not a serious problem in this individual group and played little or no role as a predisposing factor in the occurrence of congenital mental deficiency in this setting

Using Electromagnetism Algorithm for Determining the Number of kanbans in a Multi-stage Supply Chain System

This paper studies the multi-stage supply chain system (MSSCM) controlled by the kanban mechanism. In the kanban system, decision making is based on the number of kanbans as well as batch sizes. A kanban mechanism is employed to assist in linking different production processes in a supply chain system in order to implement the scope of just-in-time (JIT) philosophy. For a MSSCM, a mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem is formulated from the perspective of JIT delivery policy where a kanban may reflect to a transporter. Since the adopted model is of MINLP type and solving it by branch and bound (B&B) takes time, a metaheuristic is presented. This metaheuristic is an electromagnetic algorithm (EA). The EA is compared against an existing algorithm and also B&B results to evaluate the proposed metaheuristic. Extensive experiments and statistical analyses demonstrate that our proposed EM is more efficient than B&B with regard to the objective functions considered in this paper

Determining the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and measuring of micronutrients in cryptosporidiosis among children under 5 years in

Abstract: Background: Cryptosporidium is a worldwide protozoa and one of the most important causes of diarrhea among under 5 years children and immunocompromized patients. The majority of studies conducted about the parasite is in developed countries and mainly focused on immunocompromized subjects. Also diarrhea and malnutrition are common in young children in developing countries and a reciprocal relationship has been postulated with diarrhea leading to malnutrition and malnutrition predisposing to diarrhea. ..