Biomaterial Database

[Giardia lamblia infestation at child day care centers. Nutritional impact in infested children]. 1990

L Varga, and G Delage

Service de Pédiatrie, Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Seventy-five children attending a day care center (42 girls and 33 boys, aged from 6 to 65 months) were surveyed for excretion of Giardia lamblia cysts. Cyst excretion was found in 17 (23%) of the children, 9 of whom were still positive 6 months later. Weight, height and arm skinfold thickness of each subject were obtained and compared to normal values in the Québec population; a questionnaire concerning gastrointestinal symptoms was filled out for each child. No difference in weight, height, skinfold thickness or in frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms was found when comparing cyst excretors to children with a negative stool examination. This study suggests that G. lamblia infestation has little or no nutritional impact. This should be confirmed by a larger study.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D008297	Male		Males
D009748	Nutrition Disorders	Disorders caused by nutritional imbalance, either overnutrition or undernutrition.	Nutritional Disorders,Nutrition Disorder,Nutritional Disorder
D011792	Quebec	A province of eastern Canada. Its capital is Quebec. The region belonged to France from 1627 to 1763 when it was lost to the British. The name is from the Algonquian quilibek meaning the place where waters narrow, referring to the gradually narrowing channel of the St. Lawrence or to the narrows of the river at Cape Diamond. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p993 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p440)
D001827	Body Height	The distance from the sole to the crown of the head with body standing on a flat surface and fully extended.	Body Heights,Height, Body,Heights, Body
D002656	Child Day Care Centers	Facilities which provide care for pre-school and school-age children.	Day Care Centers for Children,Child Daycare Centers,Daycare Centers for Children,Child Daycare Center
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D003967	Diarrhea	An increased liquidity or decreased consistency of FECES, such as running stool. Fecal consistency is related to the ratio of water-holding capacity of insoluble solids to total water, rather than the amount of water present. Diarrhea is not hyperdefecation or increased fecal weight.	Diarrheas
D005243	Feces	Excrement from the INTESTINES, containing unabsorbed solids, waste products, secretions, and BACTERIA of the DIGESTIVE SYSTEM.
D005260	Female		Females