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 i
nfections. A total of 553 nomen mere randomly assigned to 1 of 4 interventi
on 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 anthelmint
ic treatment as group 2, and group 4 was a control group and received place
bos for both iron supplementation and anthelmintic treatment. Prevalence an
d intensity of helminth infections (egg counts/g stool) of Ascaris lumbrico
ides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms significantly fell in the 2 groups
receiving anthelmintic treatment and there were some reductions in the 2 gr
oups not receiving anthelminthic treatment. Haemoglobin and haematocrit con
centrations increased significantly in the iron supplemented groups with sm
aller 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 c
ounts and ferritin levels and Trichuris trichiura egg counts and haemoglobi
n concentration.