Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:42:40.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Aspects of intestinal parasitism in villagers from rural peninsular India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2011

P. D. Bidinger ,
D. W. T. Crompton  and
Susan Arnold
P. D. Bidinger
Affiliation:
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru P.O., A.P. 502 324., India
D. W. T. Crompton
Affiliation:
The Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EE
Susan Arnold
Affiliation:
The Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

In 1977, a parasitological survey was undertaken of stool samples collected from 335 people from 5 villages in semi-arid regions of peninsular India. Stools, which were collected from various individuals in a stratified sample of 40 matched households from each village, were examined by standard diagnostic procedures. Eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides and protozoan cysts, which were identified on morphological grounds as belonging to Entamoeba spp., were most common. Other protozoan cysts were considered to be those of Balantidium coli, and eggs of hookworm and Hymenolepis nana were also observed in some of the stool specimens. The prevalence of parasitic infections varied between villages. The village with the highest prevalence of Ascaris (70%) appeared to have the greatest demands made on its meagre drinking-water supply. This village is located in a dry, windy and dusty region and it is speculated that, in addition to well-established transmission mechanisms, the villagers may be exposed, perhaps through contamination of uncovered drinking-water wells and inhalation, to wind-borne Ascaris eggs. In 1967, a WHO Expert Committee Report on the Control of Ascariasis pointed out that information on the frequency of dust-borne infection with Ascaris in man was inadequate.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , October 1981 , pp. 373 - 380
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bayer, (1968). The Microscopic Diagnosis of Tropical Diseases. Leverkusen, Germany: Bayer Pharmaceutical Division.Google Scholar
Bidinger, P. D. (1981). Agricultural and socio-economic determinants of human nutrition in six villages in the semi-arid tropics of India. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, New York, USA.Google Scholar
Brown, H. W. & Belding, D. L. (1964). Basic Clinical Parasitology. 2nd edition. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Cravioto, J. & Delicardie, E. R. (1976). Malnutrition in early childhood. Food and Nutrition 2, 2–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Gopalan, C., Rama Sastri, B. V. & Balasubramanian, S. C. (1977). Nutritive Value of Foods. National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad, India.Google Scholar
Gupta, M. C., Mithal, S., Arora, K. L. & Tandon, B. N. (1977). Effects of periodic deworming on nutritional status of Ascaris-infested pre-school children receiving supplementary food. Lancet 8029, 108–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jelliffe, D. B. (1966). The Assessment of the Nutritional Status of the Community. Geneva: WHO Monograph Series, 53.Google ScholarPubMed
Jodha, N. S., Asokan, M. & Ryan, J. G. (1977). Village study methodology and resource endowments of the selected villages in ICRISAT's village level studies. ICRISAT Economic Program Occasional Paper 16, Patancheru, AP, India.Google Scholar
Kochar, V. K., Schad, G. A., Chowdhury, A. B., Dean, C. G. & Nawalinski, T. (1976). Human Factors in the regulation of parasitic infections: cultural ecology of hookworm populations in rural West Bengal. In Medical Anthropology (ed. Grollig, F. X. and Haley, H. B.), pp. 287–312. The Hague and Paris: Mouton Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latham, M. C. (1978). Strategies to control infections in malnourished populations - holistic approach or narrowly targeted interventions? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 31, 2292–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meyer, E. A. & Radulescu, S. (1979). Oiardia and giardiasis. Advances in Parasitology 17, 1–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, W. & Gilles, H. M. (1977). A Colour Atlas of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology. London: Wolfe Medical Publications Ltd.Google Scholar
Stephenson, L. S., Crompton, D. W. T., Latham, M. C., Schulpen, T. W. J., Nesheim, M. C. & Jansen, A. A. J. (1980). Relationships between Ascaris infection and growth of malnourished preschool children in Kenya. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 33, 1165–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization. (1967). Control of Ascariasis. Geneva: WHO Technical Report Series No. 379.Google Scholar