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The effect of anthelmintic treatment on helminth infection and anaemia
- D. GILGEN, C.G.N. MASCIE-TAYLOR
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- Journal:
- Parasitology / Volume 122 / Issue 1 / January 2001
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 11 January 2002, pp. 105-110
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- Article
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A 24-week randomized double blind intervention trial was conducted on adult female tea pluckers from an estate in Bangladesh to investigate the impact of iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment on changes in ferritin and haemoglobin levels as well as on prevalence and intensity of helminth infections. A total of 553 women were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 intervention groups: group 1 received iron supplementation on a weekly basis, group 2 received anthelmintic treatment at the beginning and half way through the trial, group 3 received both iron supplementation as group 1 and anthelmintic treatment as group 2, and group 4 was a control group and received placebos for both iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment. Prevalence and intensity of helminth infections (egg counts/g stool) of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms significantly fell in the 2 groups receiving anthelmintic treatment and there were some reductions in the 2 groups not receiving anthelminthic treatment. Haemoglobin and haematocrit concentrations increased significantly in the iron supplemented groups with smaller increases in the anthelmintic only group. All women showed a decrease in serum ferritin levels post-trial with greater losses in the 2 dewormed groups. Significant negative associations were found between hookworm egg counts and ferritin levels and Trichuris trichiura egg counts and haemoglobin concentration.
Preface
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- By Stanley J. Ulijaszek, C.G.N. Mascie-Taylor, Cambridge
- Edited by Stanley J. Ulijaszek, University of Cambridge, C. G. Nicholas Mascie-Taylor, University of Cambridge
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- Book:
- Anthropometry
- Published online:
- 19 November 2009
- Print publication:
- 17 February 1994, pp xi-xii
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- Chapter
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Summary
This book examines the various ways in which anthropometric measurements are used and interpreted in a range of disciplines, including biological anthropology, human biology, clinical medicine, applied physiology, health sciences and ergonomics. Anthropometry can be used to define population characteristics or to assess individuals with respect to some physical parameter, and the dual nature of this methodology is addressed by many of the authors.
The introductory chapter by G.W. Lasker discusses the role that anthropometry plays in studies of human biology, and examines the history of anthropometric measurement. The use of anthropometry in discriminating the pathological from the normal is a theme which appears in the first chapter, and is developed further by P.H. Dangerfield, who considers asymmetry in human growth, and why it is important to define what is ‘normal’ asymmetry. Accurate measurement is important in any science, and S.J. Ulijaszek and J.A Lourie review what is known about measurement error in anthropometry and put forward references for maximum acceptable error. In the chapter which follows, C.G.N. Mascie-Taylor considers statistical issues and approaches when analysing cross-sectional anthropometric characters in groups or populations.
Growth charts are widely used for growth monitoring in both developed and developing countries, and the next three chapters consider different aspects of monitoring. In the first of these, T. J. Cole describes different types of growth chart and the principles underlying them, and elaborates on new types of conditional height charts which he has developed. In the subsequent chapter, S.J. Ulijaszek considers the importance of understanding human growth cyclicities in relation to accurate growth monitoring in Western nations, while in the third of these, A.M.