Prevalence of Contagious Diseases of School Going Children in Bangladesh

Khan Md. Murtaja Reza Linkon^1*, Utpal Kumar Prodhan¹, Md. Liton¹, Md. Kamrul Islam¹, Laisa Ahmed Lisa², Dipak Kumar Paul³

¹Department of Food Technology and Nutritional Science, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh.
²Department of Microbiology, Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
³Department of Applied Nutrition and Food Technology, Islamic University, Kusthia, Bangladesh.

DOI: 10.4236/jbm.2015.37003                

Abstract

Children are becoming increasingly vulnerable to contagious disease around the world. It also leads to chronic health problems. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the prevalence of contagious diseases in children of 5 - 12 years from five government primary schools (class II to V) in Tangail City, Bangladesh using multistage sampling method. Data were collected using a carry home questionnaire and diseases screening examination was done in the school. Prevalence of common contagious diseases was calculated. A total of 84 students were screened to have contagious diseases by clinical examination, giving a prevalence rate of 8.76% from 958 participated school children. The prevalence of contagious disease among the affected children in the study was found 30.95% for scabies, while 20.24% for influenza and 7.14%, 9.52%, 15.48%, 5.95%, & 10.71% for typhoid, chicken pox, measles, pneumonia, and whooping cough, respectively. Anthropometric measurements were recorded which indicated that 48.8% of children were well-nourished and 21.4%, 17.9%, & 11.9% of children were underweight, stunted, and wasted, respectively. However, these data are extremely important to define the problem and to design proper intervention strategies.

Keywords

School Children, Contagious Diseases, Nutritional Status, Cross Sectional Study, Prevalence

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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