Infections in children under 5 years old and latrine cleanliness.
The aim of this study is to assess the cleanliness of the latrine and its relation to occurrence of disease in children under 5 years old. A stratified random sample of 1327 households was conducted in 11 villages in Upper Egypt. It included a sub-sample of 541 children under 5 years living in households with latrines. The latrine cleanliness was assessed and its relationship to disease occurrence within a period of 2 weeks. Thirty-three percent (33.1%) of children under 5 years old with latrines in their household had infections, compared to 28.3% of those without latrines in the house. Infection with diarrhoea was found most in houses with latrine and water tap. A relation was found between latrine cleanliness score and presence of flies, house building material and maternal education, but none with occurrence of infection in children under 5 years old within a period of 2 weeks.
Galal
S
S
Faculty of Medicine, Medinet Nasr, Cairo, Egypt. hashem@mboxes.com
Sundaram
C
C
Hassan
N
N
Salem
K
K
Lashin
S
S
D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D014038:Toilet Facilities; D014881:Water Supply