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Intestinal Parasitoses among Chepang and Musahar Community People of Makwanpur and Nawalparasi Districts of Nepal

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Abstract

Background

Intestinal parasitosis is one of the commonly perceived serious problems often observed in children leading to high mortality. The objective of the study was to identify the intestinal parasites and study their prevalence in the two mostly disadvantaged communities (Musahar and Chepang) of Nepal.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Musahar and Chepang communities of Nepal from April to October 2019. A total of 205 random stool samples were collected in dry, clean and screw-capped plastic containers and mixed with 2.5% potassium dichromate solution. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect data on predisposing factors. The laboratory examination of the stool samples was done by direct microscopy and further confirmed by concentration methods (formalin ether sedimentation technique and flotation technique using Sheather’s sugar solution), and modified acid-fast staining. Detection of eggs of Enterobius vermicularis was done by cellophane tape method.

Results

The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was found to be 36.6%, with a similar prevalence in the Chepangs (39.8%) and in the Musahars (33.3%) (P > 0.05). The most predominant helminth was Ascaris lumbricoides (15.6%), while the most prevalent protozoan was Entamoeba histolytica/dispar (5.4%). The study also assessed a significant association between the prevalence of parasites with socio-demographic factors, types of drinking water consumption and sanitation habits of the people (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

The findings of the study suggest a need for formulating effective preventive and control strategies against intestinal parasitic infections along with the continuity of mass deworming program.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Department of Microbiology, Birendra Multiple Campus, for providing the permission to do this work and to the Seed Medical Laboratory for providing laboratory facilities. The authors would like to appreciate all the participants for providing stool samples. We highly appreciate the help by Dr. Tirtha Raj Ghimire during the revision process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Birendra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Chitwan, Bharatpur, 44200, Nepal

    Sujan Khadka, Sanjeep Sapkota, Sanjib Adhikari & Ashok Kumar Dubey

  2. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Aquatic Chemistry, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100085, China

    Sujan Khadka

  3. State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China

    Sanjeep Sapkota

  4. State Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Alina Thapa

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Sujan Khadka, Sanjeep Sapkota & Alina Thapa

  6. Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, 44209, Nepal

    Rajendra Bashyal

  7. Seed Medical Laboratory, Chitwan, Bharatpur, 44200, Nepal

    Hari Bhusal

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  1. Sujan Khadka
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Contributions

SA, SK and SS designed and planned the study. AKD, SK and SS performed the laboratory works. RB, HB and AT worked in the field and analyzed the data. SK, SA and SS wrote and reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sanjib Adhikari.

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Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Ethical Approval

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Seed Medical Laboratory (Ref. No. 30/076/077). Research wing of Department of Microbiology of Birendra Multiple Campus also reviewed and gave permission to conduct this work.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was taken from each participant prior to collecting the samples.

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Khadka, S., Sapkota, S., Adhikari, S. et al. Intestinal Parasitoses among Chepang and Musahar Community People of Makwanpur and Nawalparasi Districts of Nepal. Acta Parasit. 66, 146–154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-020-00269-0

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