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Query: UMLS:C0240066 (iron deficiency)
 7,156 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Trichuriasis may be asymptomatic or, in heavy infection, lead to profuse, bloody diarrhea and rectal prolapse. Diagnosis is made by finding the distinctive barrel shaped eggs in the stool or in the heavily infested patient, by anoscopy and identification of worms attached to reddened and ulcerated rectal mucosa. Mebendazole is the drug of choice in treatment. Capillariasis, a parasitic infection encountered mainly in the Philippine Islands, is of interest in that the eggs may be confused with the eggs of trichuris. Hookworm disease is generally asymptomatic, but in heavy infection, leads to iron deficiency and hypochromic, microcytic anemia. Diagnosis is made by finding the characteristic hookworm eggs on a examination of a direct fecal film. Accidental invasion of humans by dog and cat hookworm leads to cutaneous larva migrans, also known as "creeping eruption." Human hookworm is treated most effectively with mebendazole, while the rash produced by creeping eruption responds to topical thiabendazole. Strongyloides is fairly common in rural areas of the southeastern United States and may be seen in the urban setting among inmates of mental institutions, prisons, and in immigrants who formerly resided in endemic tropical regions. Because of its remarkable capacity for dissemination of larvae throughout the body, this parasite is now recognized as a serious problem for the patient who is immunocompromised. Diagnosis is made by finding larvae in the stool or by the Enterotest. All infected patients should be treated with thiabendazole. I consider the issue on Drugs For Parasitic Infections, published annually or biannually by The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, to be the single best source of information on the treatment of parasitic diseases for primary care physicians.
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PMID:Parasitic diseases. Other roundworms. Trichuris, hookworm, and Strongyloides. 201 42

Iron deficiency and helminth infections are two common conditions of children in developing countries. The consequences of helminth infection in young children are not well described, and the efficacy of low dose iron supplementation is not well documented in malaria-endemic settings. A 12-mo randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind trial of 10 mg daily iron and/or mebendazole (500 mg) every 3 mo was conducted in a community-based sample of 459 Zanzibari children age 6-71 mo with hemoglobin > 70 g/L at baseline. The trial was designed to examine treatment effects on growth, anemia and appetite in two age subgroups. Iron did not affect growth retardation, hemoglobin concentration or mild or moderate anemia (hemoglobin < 110 g/L or < 90 g/L, respectively), but iron significantly improved serum ferritin and erythrocyte protoporphyrin. Mebendazole significantly reduced wasting malnutrition. but only in children <30 mo old. The adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for mebendazole in this age group were 0.38 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.90) for weight-for-height less than -1 Z-score and 0.29 (0.09, 0.91) for small arm circumference. In children <24 mo old, mebendazole also reduced moderate anemia (AOR: 0.41, 0.18, 0.94). Both iron and mebendazole improved children's appetite, according to mothers' report. In this study, iron's effect on anemia was limited, likely constrained by infection, inflammation and perhaps other nutrient deficiencies. Mebendazole treatment caused unexpected and significant reductions in wasting malnutrition and anemia in very young children with light infections. We hypothesize that incident helminth infections may stimulate inflammatory immune responses in young children, with deleterious effects on protein metabolism and erythropoiesis.
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PMID:Low dose daily iron supplementation improves iron status and appetite but not anemia, whereas quarterly anthelminthic treatment improves growth, appetite and anemia in Zanzibari preschool children. 1474 71