Is your child complaining about stomach aches regularly or eating too much food but there is no sign of growth in the body? It might be possible that the stomach or intestine of your ward could be infected by a tropical disease caused by helminths which are large multicellular organisms such as whipworms, roundworms, or hookworms that can be seen with the naked eye. These parasites enter the body through multiple routes such as soil, and human feces, and they dilute the uptake of nutrition in the body which could lead to stunted growth. The common symptoms in children could be vomiting, diarrhea, or fever.
The deficiency of certain important vitamins and minerals could also lead to diseases like anemia etc. Also, this disease not only affects physical development but mental as well as cognitive. The National deworming day i.e, 10th February which was established in 2015 and is celebrated bi-annually(10th August) since 2016, is a brainchild of the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends deworming in children aged 1-19 years with risk-free chewable tablets such as albendazole, mebendazole, etc at regular intervals. The largest DEVTA (Deworming and Enhanced Vitamin A supplementation) study on 1 million children was funded by (tablets donated by GlaxoSmithKline), and World Bank and conducted by King George’s Medical University, Lucknow in North India published their findings about the usage of albendazole in the eminent journal Lancet. Also, the recently published review in Cochrane showed that deworming with albendazole can aid in the growth of children
As the disease can be transmitted via infected persons by defecation in public back to the soil. In a person who is already infected, his/her intestine is a congenial environment for the breeding of these worms and they lay thousands of eggs. These eggs can spread in the soil and pass onto vegetables. Hence, it should be mandatory to wash, peel and cook the vegetables carefully. So, it is very necessary to maintain hygiene, and take care of sanitation and the water that we drink should be safe and clean.
A study published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene which was conducted in Rural China and approved by Stanford University on children infected with hookworms assessed the probable reasons for the decline in cognitive ability with a battery of four subtests from the Mandarin-language version of the latest Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fourth Edition (WISC-IV). Two areas of focus were Working Memory Index (WMI) and Processing Speed Index (PSI). They also monitored the school attendance and the scores on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).
The intestinal infections could be a leading cause for the decline in school performance as the child may have to miss out on academic activities frequently. Proper medication can reduce this absenteeism and aid in cognitive development and Anganwadis and Community Health Centres can play a huge role in it in India.
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