A SURVEY ON HELMINTHIC INFECTIONS IN TWO RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NEPAL

This study was carried out to elucidate the prevalence of intestinal helminthic infections in rural communities in Nepal. Of 231 inhabitants randomly sampled in Kotyang and Judigaun, 140 (60.6%) were found to be infected with some soil-transmitted helminths. The highest prevalence was observed in hookworm infection (52.8%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (18.6%) and Ascaris lumbricoides (11.3%) infections. Some inhabitants harboured Vampirolepis nana and liver fluke. The female group aged 60 years old and more showed significantly higher T. trichiura infection rate than the male group with the same age (p<0.05), while no relationship was detected between proportion of T. trichiura infection and age based on logistic regression test (p=0.07). Serum IgE levels of Nepalese were shown to be far higher than common Japanese levels, suggesting the repeated infections with these helminths.