All issues > Volume 18(11); 1975

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1975;18(11):822-828. Published online November 30, 1975.

Parasite Infestation in the Pediatric Age Group

Ki Jong Nam¹, Jin Ju Kim¹, Sung Hee Shin¹, Ki Jun Kim¹

¹Department of Pediatric, Presbyterin Medical Center Chen-ju, Korea

Abstract

During the 3 year-period from Jan. 1971 through December 1973, the presbyterian Medical Center in Chon-ju Pediatric Department saw 4, 331 inpatient and outpatients, among whom 1, 623 or 37% underwent stool examination. 1.Stool examination showed at least one kind of helminth revealed in 48. 2% of males and 54. 3% of females. 2.The pediatric population could be devided into 3 groups. The first group (up to 1 year of age) had a low infestation rate(6.9%) determined by parasite eggs. But the infestation of ascaris was detected from as early as three months of age, which means early infestation soon after birth. The second group (1 to 6 years of age) showed a progressive increase, incidence of infestation with age. The third group (up to 14 years of age) showed a greatly increased incidence, which gained before 6 years of age. Most kinds of parasites, as in the case of adults, were infested in this age group. 3. The ascaris infestation was seen earliest, with Himenolepsis nana & other tapeworms occurring later at 4 and 9 months of age respectively. 4.There was a slight seasonal variation of helminths infestation with a decrease in the. summer time. There was no significant difference from year to year. 5.There was higher incidence in outpatients than inpatients, however this may be because of a tendency to study symptomatic patients. 90% of the outpatients had a complaint of mild periumblical pain showed a positive results of stool examination. 6.Eosinophilia on peripheral blood smear (>3%) was much higher in those with parasites than those without. 7.Any characteristic pattern, as in the case of helminths was not seen in protozoa infestation showing the incidence of 5.5%. In contrast to helminths, there was highest infestation in the summer-time. As described above, the cause of adults parasitic infestations is vegetable ingestion, but children from inadequate hygiene, eg dirty hands of the mother or playing in the dirty soils. So we can prevent the pediatric parasite infestation in doing good hygine.

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