Frequency of giarrdia in acute watery diarrhea

Abstract

Objective: This study was executed to assess the frequency of giardia in acute watery diarrhea among children presented at Ittefaq Hospital, Lahore using the microscopic method.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was done at Pediatrics department, Ittefaq Hospital, Lahore. The study was completed in 6 months. Stool samples from 275 patients, aged 6 months to 12 years, having acute watery diarrhea were taken and sent to hospital laboratory for analysis. Giardiasis was confirmed using microscopic assessment of the fecal specimens indicating cysts, trophozites and eggs of the giardia parasite. Numerical data was documented as mean and standard deviation whereas categorical data was presented as frequencies and percentages.  To address the effect modifiers, data was stratified for age, gender, residence status, and economics status. Post-stratification Chi-square test was applied and p ? 0.05 was regarded as significant.

Results: The mean age of patients was 5.29 ± 2.77 years with minimum and maximum ages as 6 months and 12 years. There were 144(52.36%) male and 131(47.64%) female cases. A total of 97(35.27%) cases had Giardia on microscopic examination of stools. There was no significant association between Giardia infection and different age groups, gender, area of residence, and monthly household income (p>0.05). A very high frequency of Giardia lamblia (35.27%) in children with diarrhea is of serious public health concern.

Conclusion: To combat this, adequate precautionary measures should be opted including clean water supply, proper sanitation facilities, health education and promotion of personal and household hygiene, and most importantly regular deworming of pediatric population.