[Geographical distribution of echinococcosis among children in Qinghai Province].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the epidemiological status of echinococcosis among children in three different zones of Qinghai Province.


METHODS
B-ultrasound and ELISA were used in the survey to evaluate echinococcus infection among 6 to 15 year old children in the three zones, namely, Qinghai southern plateau, Qilian mountain-Hehuang valley and Chaidamu basin.


RESULTS
The prevalence of echinococcus infection scanned by B-ultrasound and sera positive rate detected by ELISA in children were 1.5% (320/20 730) and 6.5% (1024/15 762) respectively, and the prevalence of cystic echinococcosis and alveolar echinococcosis by ultrasound were 1.0% (206/20730) and 0.6% (114/20730), respectively. The prevalence and sera positive rate were 9.5% (707/7 453) and 2.3% (269/11 618) in Qinghai southern plateau, 3.8%(289/7 544) and 0.6% (50/8 275) in Qilian mountain-Hehuang valley, and 3.7% (28/765) and 0.1% (1/837) in Chaidamu basin, respectively. The southern plateau showed the highest prevalence, with a significant statistical difference among the three areas (P < 0.01). The prevalence of alveolar echinococcosis was 1.0% (114/11 618) in the southern plateau, but no alveolar echinococcosis patients were found in other two areas. Correlation analysis showed that the prevalence increased with the altitude (r(s-e) = 0.96, P < 0.05, R2 = 0.93; r(p-e) = 0.82, P < 0.05, R2 = 0.67).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of echinococcosis among children shows an apparent geographical difference in Qinghai Province.
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai 200025, China.
Hui-Xia
HX
Cai
Ya-Yi
YY
Guan
Hu
H
Wang
Wei-Ping
WP
Wu
Xiu-Min
XM
Han
Xiao
X
Ma
Li-Ying
LY
Wang
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004446:Echinococcus; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence