Prevalence and risk factors associated with intestinal acaroid mite and helminthic infection among school-aged children in Northern Egypt.

Abstract

Intestinal acaroid mite infection is a neglected rare health problem. In Egypt, several studies have investigated the prevalence of domestic mites, but few studies discussed intestinal acariasis and its associated risk factors. The present study aimed to detect the prevalence of intestinal acariasis and other helminthic infections in stool samples of school children in Kafr El-sheikh, Egypt. A total of 353 children were recruited. For each child, three stool samples were collected over three consecutive days and two Kato Katz slides were prepared from each sample. Different risk factors associated with parasitic infection were investigated through pre-designed structured interviewing questionnaire. About 70 (19.8%) children were infected with one or more parasites. Among them, 24 (34.2%) children had mite (Tyrophagus sp.) in one or more stool samples. Of the 24 cases, five cases had mite in all three stool samples. Out of the 70 infected children, 51 (72.8%) had helminthic infections: Fasciola spp., Ascaris lumbricoides, Hymenolepis nana, Schistosoma mansoni and Enterobius vermicularis (15.7% 8.5% 28.5% 7.1% and 15.7%, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed age, having a working mother, raising animals and not receiving praziquantel treatment as independent risk factor for mite infestation. To our knowledge, this is the first report which detected a relatively high prevalence of intestinal acariasis in school children in Egypt. Broader studies should be done to investigate the source of mite infestation.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12639-025-01835-x.