Age-dependent decline and association with stunting of Giardia duodenalis infection among schoolchildren in rural Huye district, Rwanda.

Giardia duodenalis infection is highly prevalent and a cause of underweight in pre-school children in rural Rwanda. The present study aimed at assessing the age-pattern of Giardia infection and its manifestation in older children, i.e.

Reduced prevalence of Giardia duodenalis in iron-deficient Rwandan children.

Objective: Acute symptomatic infection with Giardia duodenalis impairs iron absorption, but iron deficiency may protect against infections caused by various micro-organisms including parasites. We therefore examined the association of G. duodenalis infection and iron deficiency in 575 Rwandan children under 5 years of age.

Soil-transmitted helminths in southern highland Rwanda: associated factors and effectiveness of school-based preventive chemotherapy.

Objectives: Preventive chemotherapy of schoolchildren against soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) is widely implemented in Rwanda. However, data on its actual efficacy are lacking. We assessed prevalence, associated factors and manifestation of STH infection among schoolchildren in southern highland Rwanda as well as cure and reinfection rates.

Anaemia, iron deficiency and a common polymorphism of iron-regulation, TMPRSS6 rs855791, in Rwandan children.

Anaemia in children living in sub-Saharan Africa is common, but its causes are diverse. In 545 children below 5 years of age from rural southern Rwanda, we assessed the role of iron deficiency (ID) and of the TMPRSS6 736(V) (rs855791) allele, known to reduce iron status and haemoglobin (Hb) levels, in anaemia and Hb concentrations. Anaemia (Hb <11 g/dl) was present in 34.

High prevalence of Giardia duodenalis Assemblage B infection and association with underweight in Rwandan children.

Background: Giardia duodenalis is highly endemic in East Africa but its effects on child health, particularly of submicroscopic infections, i.e., those below the threshold of microscopy, and of genetic subgroups (assemblages), are not well understood.

Prevalence of classic erythrocyte polymorphisms among 749 children in southern highland Rwanda.

Classic erythrocyte polymorphisms were assessed by PCR-based methods among 749 children in southern highland Rwanda. Sickle cell trait, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, and α(+)-thalassaemia were observed in 2.8%, 9.

Molecular markers of Plasmodium falciparum drug resistance in southern highland Rwanda.

In Rwanda, frequent mutations in the pfdhfr and pfdhps genes of Plasmodium falciparum have suggested intense sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine resistance. However, data on pfmdr1 are not available but might be important in the context of the first-line treatment with artemether-lumefantrine. During a survey among 749 children under five years of age in southern highland Rwanda, 104 P.

Decreased susceptibility to commonly used antimicrobial agents in bacterial pathogens isolated from urinary tract infections in Rwanda: need for new antimicrobial guidelines.

The aim of this study was to obtain data on susceptibility patterns of pathogens responsible for both community and hospital urinary tract infections (UTIs); and analyzed risk factors for infection caused by ciprofloxacin-resistant Escherichia coli and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing strains in Rwanda. Of 1,012 urine cultures prospectively studied, a total of 196 (19.3%) yielded significant growth of a single organism.