Volume 1, Issue 2 ((Summer) 2012)                   J Occup Health Epidemiol 2012, 1(2): 81-86 | Back to browse issues page


XML Print


Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:

Dehghani R, Davari B, Moosavi S, eslami H, Kachoei E, Rahimi M et al . Prevalence of head lice infestation among 3-6 years old nursery children in Kashan (2009). J Occup Health Epidemiol 2012; 1 (2) :81-86
URL: http://johe.rums.ac.ir/article-1-1-en.html

Related article in
Google Scholar

1- Dept. of Environmental Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
2- Dept. of Parasitology, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences, Sannandaj, Iran.
3- Dept. of Public Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
4- Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. , hadieslami1986@yahoo.com
5- Expert in Dept. of Environmental Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran
Article history
Received: 2011/12/27
Accepted: 2012/11/12
ePublished: 2014/01/5
Subject: Epidemiology
Abstract:   (19981 Views)

  Background: Head lice infestation is one of the most common parasitic infections with a long history in the world . The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of head lice infestation among 3-6 years old children going to nursery schools in Kashan, Iran in 2009.

  Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1200 children having the age range of 3-6 years old in February 2009. The infestation was confirmed by the presence of nit, nymph and adult species in the children's hair. The causing agent, Pediculus Capitis, was isolated by combing for 3-5 minutes or using manual lens. Then a questionnaire was completed and the data were categorized and compared using Fisher's exact test.

  Results: The results demonstrated that 8 children, (0.7%, out of 1200) were infected with the parasite. The prevalence rates of infestation among girls and boys were 1.14% and 0.17%, respectively. Infestation prevalence rates were 8.3% and 0.43% among children having unemployed and employed fathers respectively (P<0.001). About 2% of children who were living in family with five or more members were infected which was significantly higher than its proportion (0.4%) among children living in families with 3-4 member (P<0.031).

Conclusions: The prevalence rate of head lice infestation was higher among children living in big families and also among children who had unemployed fathers. Appropriate parental education, weekly inspection of the nurseries in order to find the infected children and referring them to health centers, can decrease the incidence rate of head lice infestation.

  |   Full Text (HTML)      

Add your comments about this article : Your username or Email:
CAPTCHA

Send email to the article author


Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

© 2024 CC BY-NC 4.0 | Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology

Designed & Developed by : Yektaweb