A Comparative Study between Malnourished and Well-nourished Diarrheal Children Suspected with Giardiasis

The present study was carried out during the period of January to June 2018 in Al-Hilla Province. The study included 100 samples which were collected from diarrheal pediatric patients at ages ranged between 1-6 years old; 50 sample were taken from malnourished-children (30 male, 20 female) and 50 samples were taken from well-nourished diarrheal children . The study patients were being submitted to the Maternity and Children and Al Nour Hospitals in Al-Hilla City. Study pediatric children and their samples were examined clinically and microscopically , clinically by the aid of the specialist physician and patients guider with the hospital record , and microscopically in the parasites laboratory of the hospitals. The present study revealed that the males were infected more than females with giardiasis (58.3%) and (41.6%), respectively. The Giardiasis was occurred in a high percentage in the age group ranged from 5 to 6 years old(50%). It was more occurrence in the rural areas than those in urban areas which was (66.6%) and (33.3%) , respectively. The study obtained results revealed that the type of diarrheal symptoms among Giardiasis infected children were varied from watery 7(58.3), fatty 2(16.6), bloody 1(8.3), mucus1(8.3) and mixed 1(8.3), respectively. Furthermore, there were different percentages of Giardia infection among study pediatric individuals according to their feeding patterns. The breast feeding, under two years old children was 33.3%, followed by artificial feeding (33.3%) and mixed feeding(16.6%), respectively. Whereas, in a multinutrition patterns children (2-6 years old) was 16.6%. In addition, there were a different percentages of Giardiasis co-infection 8 cases (66.7%), whereas the solely infection of Giardia was 4 cases (33.3%).