Frequency of Gastrointestinal Parasites, Anemia, and Nutritional Status among Children from Different Geographical Regions of Bolivia
Table 1
Demographic characteristics of helminth and protozoa infections among children in the highland and lowland regions of Bolivia.
Total (N = 790) (%)
Highland (N = 229) (%)
Lowland (N = 561) (%)
Sex
Female
53.9
29.6
70.4
Male
46.1
28.3
71.7
0.753
Age
5–7
31.3
42.9
57.1
8–10
44.2
21.8
78.2
11–13
24.6
24.2
75.8
<0.001
Helmimths
Hymenolepis nana
8.2
15.7
5.2
<0.001
Ascaris lumbricoides
11.4
41.9
28.5
0.806
N. americanus/A. duodenale
0.5
0
0.5
0.329
Trichuris trichiura
1.5
0
0.7
0.047
Strongyloides stercoralis
1.3
0
0.2
0.071
Enterobius vermicularis
0.4
0
0.9
0.561
Overall prevalence
22
24.9
20.9
0.220
Protozoa
Entamoeba coli
28.9
48.9
16
<0.001
Endolimax nana
14.2
9.6
31.7
0.018
Giardia lamblia
31.3
30.1
11.2
0.673
Blastocystis hominis
31.9
40.2
28.5
0.002
Iodamoeba butschli
6.5
16.1
2.5
<0.001
Chilomastix mesnili
10.8
19.2
7.3
<0.001
Entamoeba histolytica/dispar
6.1
7.4
5.5
0.326
Entamoeba histolytica
2.2
5.7
0.7
<0.001
Overall prevalence
62
74.2
57.0
0.001
Coinfection
Helminths-protozoa‡
70.1
78.6
66.7
0.001
stands for significant differences between the study sites by chi-square test. ‡Overall prevalence of polyparasitic infections by helminth and protozoa.
