Prevalence and associated risk factors of intestinal parasitic infections among children in pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in the Adadle woreda of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia

Kayla C Lanker; Abdifatah M Muhummed; Guéladio Cissé; Jakob Zinsstag; Jan Hattendorf; Ramadan Budul Yusuf; Shamil Barsenga Hassen; Rea Tschopp; Pascale Vonaesch

doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0011448

Prevalence and associated risk factors of intestinal parasitic infections among children in pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in the Adadle woreda of the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Jul 3;17(7):e0011448. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011448. eCollection 2023 Jul.

Authors

Kayla C Lanker^{1

2}, Abdifatah M Muhummed^{1

2

3}, Guéladio Cissé^{2

4}, Jakob Zinsstag^{1

2}, Jan Hattendorf^{1

2}, Ramadan Budul Yusuf³, Shamil Barsenga Hassen³, Rea Tschopp^{1

2

5}, Pascale Vonaesch⁶

Affiliations

¹ Human and Animal Health Unit, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
² Faculty of Science, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
³ Jigjiga University One Health Initiative, Jigjiga University, Jigjiga, Ethiopia.
⁴ Ecosystem Health Sciences Unit, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
⁵ One Health Unit, Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁶ Department of Fundamental Microbiology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) can cause illness, morbidity, and occasional mortality in children. Agro-pastoralist and pastoralist children in the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia (ESRS) are especially at risk for IPIs, as access to safe water, sanitation, and health services is lacking. Minimal data on the prevalence of IPIs and associated risk factors exists in this region.

Methodology: We assessed the prevalence of IPIs and associated risk factors during the wet season from May-June 2021 in 366 children aged 2 to 5 years in four agro-pastoralist and four pastoralist kebeles (wards) in Adadle woreda (district) of the Shebelle zone, ESRS. Household information, anthropometric measurements, and stool samples were obtained from included children. Parasites were identified microscopically using Kato-Katz and direct smear methods. Risk factors were assessed using general estimating equation models accounting for clustering.

Principal findings: Overall prevalence of IPIs was 35%: 30.6% for single infections and 4.4% for poly-parasitic infections. Intestinal protozoan prevalence was 24.9%: 21.9% Giardia intestinalis, and 3.0% Entamoeba spp.. Intestinal helminth prevalence was 14.5%: 12.8% Ascaris lumbricoides, 1.4% hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale /Necator americanus.), and 0.3% Hymenolepis nana. G. intestinalis infection was associated with drinking water sourced from the river (aOR 15.6, 95%CI 6.84, 35.4) and from collected rainwater (aOR 9.48, 95%CI 3.39, 26.5), with toilet sharing (aOR 2.93, 95%CI 1.36, 6.31) and with household ownership of cattle (1-5 cattle: aOR 1.65, 95%CI 1.13, 2.41; 6+ cattle: aOR 2.07, 95%CI 1.33, 3.21) and chickens (aOR 3.80, 95%CI 1.77, 8.17). A. lumbricoides infection was associated with children 36 to 47 months old (aOR 1.92, 95%CI 1.03, 3.58).

Conclusions/significance: Improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Adadle and employing a One Health approach would likely improve the health of children living in (agro-) pastoralist communities in Adadle and the ESRS; however, further studies are required.

Copyright: © 2023 Lanker et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Animals
Cattle
Chickens*
Ethiopia / epidemiology
Feces / parasitology
Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic* / epidemiology
Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic* / parasitology
Prevalence
Risk Factors
Somalia

Grants and funding

This study received financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) (no. 7F-09057.01.02 to JZ), the Nutricia Research Foundation (no. 2019-20 to PV), the Forschungsfonds of the University of Basel (Fellowship in 2020 to PV), the SNSF Return Grant (no. P3P3PA_177877 to PV) and the Eccellenza Fellowship (no. PCEFP3_194545 to PV). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.