title: Parents' knowledge about enterobiasis might be one of the most important risk factors for enterobiasis in children.
abstract: To know the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection and what are the most important risk factors, we evaluated the incidence and risk factors of enterobiasis among children attended in kindergartens in Busan metropolitan city, Republic of Korea. A total of 1,674 children from 21 kindergartens in 11 of 16 autonomous districts of Busan were evaluated for E. vermicularis infection by the cellotape anal swab technique. The overall egg-positive rate for E. vermicularis was 10.7% (179/1,674), and the prevalence of enterobiasis in each kindergarten ranged between 0% and 32.4%. There was an increasing tendency of the egg positive rate according to the population density; the higher the population density communities had, the higher egg-positive rate for E. vermicularis was detected (P = 0.001). Among personal hygiene factors involving children, thumb-sucking (P = 0.036) and fingernail-trimming (P = 0.024) were highly associated with enterobiasis. In addition, taking anthelmintic medications against E. vermicularis infection was strongly associated with enterobiasis (P = 0.014). Moreover, parents' knowledge of enterobiasis was correlated significantly with the incidence of enterobiasis of their children (P = 0.006). In conclusion, we need to consider not only personal hygiene but also parents' knowledge about enterobiasis as a factor in order to develop new strategies for elimination or to complete reduction of enterobiasis in Korea.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, College of Nursing, Pusan National University, Gyeongsangnam-do, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong-Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyun-Mi
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: Joo Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Min Kyoung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Mee Kyung
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sin Ye
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Bo Young
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hak Sun
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017229:Enterobiasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D004757:Enterobius / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012307:Risk Factors