The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal
Original Studies
Enterobius vermicularis and Risk Factors in Healthy Norwegian Children
Bøås, Håkon MSc*; Tapia, German PhD*; Sødahl, John A. BSc*; Rasmussen, Trond MSc†; Rønningen, Kjersti S. MD, PhD‡
From the *Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health; †Division of Society and Information, Norwegian Institute of Public Health; and ‡Department of Pediatric Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway.
Accepted for publication April 3, 2012.
Supported by The Research Council of Norway (185610/V40, 135893/330, 155330/320, 156477/730 and 166515/V50). The study sponsor had no saying in study design; collection, analysis or interpretation of data; the writing of the article or the decision to submit the article for publication. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Håkon Bøås; no honorarium, grant or payment was given. The authors have no other funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.
Address for correspondence: Håkon Bøås, MSc, Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404 Nydalen, N-0403 Oslo, Norway. E-mail: [email protected].
Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal’s website (www.pidj.com).
- Buy
- SDC
Abstract
Background:
The prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis in neighboring countries of Norway show large variation. The goal of this study was to investigate the prevalence among Norwegian children and possible risk factors.
Methods:
The children were participants in “Environmental Triggers of Type 1 Diabetes: the MIDIA study.” The study involved 2 groups with different genetic risks of type 1 diabetes: A high-risk group carries the Human Leukocyte Antigen genotype conferring the highest risk for type 1 diabetes and a nonhigh-risk group consisting of children without this genotype. Scotch tape samples were collected on 3 consecutive days and examined by light microscopy.
Results:
A total of 18% (72/395) of children were positive for E. vermicularis. The highest prevalence (34%) was in children 6–11 years of age. Only 2 children were prior known positives. Increased number of siblings was linked to more infections, and there were fewer infections in the children with the high-risk genotype.
Conclusion:
E. vermicularis is a common parasite in Norwegian children. The likelihood of E. vermicularis infection depends on family size and prevalence increases with age. The reduced number of infections in the children carrying the high-risk genotype for type 1 diabetes is intriguing and should be investigated further.