IRON STATUS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN WITH VARYING INTENSITIES OF TRICHURIS-TRICHIURA INFECTION

The relationship between varying intensities of Trichuris trichiura in fection and iron status was examined in Jamaican schoolchildren, aged 7 to 11 years. A total of 409 children was identified with T. trichiur a (epg > 1200). A control group comprised 207 uninfected children who were matched by school and class to every pair of infected subjects. B lood samples were obtained from 421 children: 264 infected and 157 con trols. Compared to the rest of the children, those with heavy infectio ns (epg > 10000) had significantly lower (P < 0.05) Hb (11.5 +/- 1.3 v s. 12.1 +/- 1.1 g/dl), MCV (78.6 +/- 6.3 vs. 91.2 +/- 5.5 fl), MCH (26 .2 +/- 12.9 vs. 27.5 +/- 2.5 pg) and MCHC (33.2 +/- 1.5 vs. 33.9 +/- 1 .4 g/dl). Similarly, the prevalence of anaemia (Hb < 11.0 g/dl) amongs t heavily infected children (33 %) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the rest of the sample (11%). These differences remained signifi cant after controlling for confounding variables including socioeconom ic status, age, gender, area of residence and the presence of Ascaris infections. Differences in red cell count, ferritin, and free erythroc yte protoporphyrin were not statistically significant and showed no as sociation with the infectious load. These results suggest that in the Jamaican children studied, iron deficiency anaemia is associated with Tricharis infections over 10000 epg, but not with less intense infecti ons.