Abstract

Objective: To find out the prevalence of Cyclospora cayetanensis (C. cayetanensis) and other enteropathogen among children under the age of 15 years from different areas of Biratnagar Municipality and those who visited Nobel Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal. Methods: A total of 588 stool samples were collected from children with diarrhoeal illness. Samples were processed to observe parasites using normal saline, iodine and potassium dichromate. Bacterial enteropathogens were detected through bacterial cultures and biochemical analysis. Serological tests and antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed for pure bacterial isolates. ELISA was done to find the prevalence of rotavirus. Results: Among 588 processed samples, 12 (2.04%) cases showed potential C. cayetanensis infection which was highly distributed in the age group of 3–6 years during the month of July. Giardia lambia was found to be more prevalent than C. cayetanensis and Escherichia coli and was the highest bacterial enteropathogen detected among children suffering from diarrhoeal illness. The overall prevalence of rotavirus was 22.89% of total children under 5 years age and found the highest in the month of May. Conclusions: The present study concluded that the prevalence of C. cayetanensis was relatively low as compared to other parasite. A wide range of other parasite was involved as causative agents of diarrhoea other than C. cayetanensis. Rotavirus has been found as a major causative agent of childhood diarrhoea in children less than 5 years and this study showed that parasites and other enteropathogen were more prevalent in the months of May, June and July.

Authors and Affiliations