Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://repositorio.ufba.br/handle/ri/7054
metadata.dc.type: | Artigo de Periódico |
Title: | Asymptomatic giardiasis and growth in young children: a longitudinal study in Salvador, Brazil |
Other Titles: | Parasitology |
Authors: | Prado, Matildes da Silva Cairncross, Sandy Strina, Agostino Barreto, Mauricio Lima Assis, Ana Marlucia de Oliveira Rego, S. |
metadata.dc.creator: | Prado, Matildes da Silva Cairncross, Sandy Strina, Agostino Barreto, Mauricio Lima Assis, Ana Marlucia de Oliveira Rego, S. |
Abstract: | This study sought to assess the effect of giardiasis on growth of young children. In Salvador, northeast Brazil, 597 children initially aged 6 to 45 months were followed for a year in 1998/9, measured anthropometrically thrice, every 6 months, and monitored for diarrhoea prevalence twice weekly. Stool samples were collected and examined during the second round of anthropometry, and infected children were treated 39 days later, on average (S.D. 20 days). For each 6-month interval, the gains in z-scores of infected and uninfected children were compared, after adjustment for potential confounding factors, including longitudinal prevalence of diarrhoea. No significant difference was found for the first interval but in the second, the gain in adjusted height-for-age z-score was 0·09 less in infected than uninfected children, equivalent to a difference in height gain of 0·5 cm. The shortfall in growth was greater in children who remained free of diarrhoea, and was significantly correlated with the proportion of the second interval during which the child had remained untreated. We conclude that Giardia can impede child growth even when asymptomatic, presumably through malabsorption. This finding challenges the view that young children found to have asymptomatic giardiasis in developing countries should not be treated. |
Keywords: | Brazil diarrhoea Giardia duodenalis growth longitudinal study malabsorption |
URI: | http://www.repositorio.ufba.br/ri/handle/ri/7054 |
Issue Date: | 2005 |
Appears in Collections: | Artigo Publicado em Periódico (ICS) |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
plugin-download.php.pdf Restricted Access | 114,28 kB | Adobe PDF | View/Open Request a copy |
Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.