Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Cystic Echinococcosis among Children in Lorestan Province, Western Iran
Author(s): Hossein Mahmoudvand, Nadereh Taee, Farnaz Kheirandish, Sedigheh Nadri, Mojgan Faraji Goudarzi, Somayeh Shahkarami
Abstract
Hydatidosis is as a zoonotic disease can be transmitted to human by consumption of the parasite’s eggs through vegetables, water, food and also via having contact with dog. Children because of contact with the animals and lack of hygiene standards in the consumption of food, water, fruits and vegetables are far more at risk of hydatidosis. This study was aimed to evaluate seroprevalence and risk factors Cystic echinococcosis (CE, hydatid cyst) in children (2-15 year old) referred to health centers of Lorestan province, Iran. This cross-sectional study was performed from August 2016 to March 2017 on 316 children (aged 2-15 years), referring to health centers of Lorestan province, Iran. All the serum samples were tested using the commercially ELISA kit of NovaLisa® Echinococcus IgG (Novatec, Germany) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 17.0 software. Multifactorial logistic regression models were applied to determine association between CE seropositivity and the potential risk factors. Of the 316 children, 9 (2.84%) tested seropositive for anti-hydatid IgG antibody. In multifactorial logistic regression models, some risk factors such as living in rural regions (4.3; 90% CI: 1.9-9.6) and contact with dogs (3.8; 90% CI: 1.7-8.9) were significantly related to seropositivity to anti-hydatid IgG antibodies. To conclude, we found that CE is prevalent among in children referred to health centers of Lorestan province, Iran. The obtained findings may be a warning for health centers to pay special attention to CE among children and also design screening programmers for prevention of CE.
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