title: Prevalence of hookworm infection and its association with anemia among patients visiting Fenan Medical Center, East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Data was obtained from all study subjects and blood and fecal specimen were collected from all subjects who apparently volunteer to take part in the study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine prevalence of hookworm infection and its association with anemia. METHODS.: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2007 in Diga District, East Wollega Zone. Hematocrit test was done on all blood samples. All stool specimens were processed with a Kato-thick method and examined for parasites and the density of parasites was determined as eggs per gram of stool (epg). Frequencies and proportions were used for the descriptive analysis of the data and Pearson Chi-square test was used to assess the associations between the demographic characteristics of the study subjects and the findings of the test samples.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites was 64.9% Hookworm was the predominant (49.7%) intestinal parasite identified among the study participants. The density of hookworm egg ranged from 48 epg to 11,520 epg with mean and median values of 685 and 288 epg respectively. The observed result for hematocrit ranged from 12% to 50% with mean (SD) and median values of 34.6% (4.7) and 36% respectively. The prevalence of anemia is 65.5% among study participants. Among those subjects with hookworm, 83.9% were anemic. On the contrary only 41 (22.5%) study subjects who appeared negative for hookworm on stool examination were anemic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of hookworm is higher and it is associated with anemia in East Wollega zone. Therefore intervention strategies should consider the concomitance of hookworm and anemia in the implementations of appropriate prevention and control strategies.
authors: Department of Experimental Medicine and Public Health, University of Camerino, Italy.
authors: Geme Urge
authors: GU
authors: Dori
authors: Kassu Desta
authors: KD
authors: Tullu
authors: Ibrahim
authors: I
authors: Ali
authors: Abera
authors: A
authors: Hirko
authors: Getahun
authors: G
authors: Mekuria
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006376:Helminths / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006400:Hematocrit; D006725:Hookworm Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult