The Health Impact Of Intestinal Helminth Infections Among Podoconiosis Patients In Wolaita Zone Southern Ethiopia

Intestinal helminth infections are most common diseases of the poor and a potential cause ofrnanemia in developing countries. Podoconiosis is a non-filarial “elephantiasis” of the lower legs inrnfarmers that work on loamy clay soil and is a chronic complication that does not have effectiverntreatment. Soil contact being the mode of transmission of geo-helminths and the cause ofrnpodoconiosis, the aim of this study was to investigate the health impact of helminth infections onrnpodoconiosis patients in Wolaita Zone, southern Ethiopia. A total of 480 (384 podoconiosisrnpatients and 96 controls) study participants were enrolled in the study. The study showed anrnoverall prevalence of 57.8% helminth parasites among podoconiosis patients and 37.5% amongrnthe controls. Out of the helminth positive podoconiosis patients, 3.9% had triple and morerninfections, 12.8% double and 41.1% had single infections. Among the control study participants,rntriple and more infections were rare (1%), whereas 7.3% double and 29.2% single infectionsrnwere detected. Shoe wearing in relation to hookworm infection among the podoconiosis patientsrnwas assessed and most had no practice of appropriate shoe wearing. Hemoglobin (Hgb) andrnHematocrit determination techniques used to determine anemia showed mean Hgb value betweenrnpodoconiosis patients (12.85±1.69) and controls (14.71±1.69) to be significantly differentrn(P

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