Abstract

The present study was conducted among 1570 adolescent girls (aged 10-19 years) in rural, urban and slum areas in and around Dhaka city, Bangladesh to investigate the association of parasitic infestation and nutritional status of the adolescent girls. Two protozoan parasites (Entamoeba histolytica and Giardia lamblia) and four helminthes parasites (Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichura, Strongyloides stercoralis and hookworm) were identified during the present investigation. About one third (33.50%) of the adolescent girls were found to be infected with parasites. The prevalence was higher in rural (49.62%) area compared to the slum (33.43%) and urban (18.22%) areas. Among the parasites, A. lumbricoides was found to be more prevalent (14.20%) followed by T. trichura (4.20%), E. histolytica (3.63%) and hookworm (2.03%). The mean height of the infected and non infected girls was 142.38 cm and 144.21 cm respectively and the mean weight was 34.58 kg and 40.40 kg respectively. The Body Mass Index (BMI) of the infected group was lower (18.23 kg/m2) than the non infected group (19.13kg/m2). The difference of BMI between the infected and non infected groups was not statistically significant (p>0.05). According to the Z-score classification, nutritional status (stunted, under weight and wasted) of the non infected adolescent girls were much better than the infected girls (p<0.000).

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