Abstract:

Background: Diarrheal is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in a young children estimated to cause at least 1.6 million annual deaths among children less than 5 years of age. Among teh main infectious diarrhea genic pathogens the intestinal protozoan parasite Giardia intestinalis is distributed worldwide and estimated to cause 280 million diarrhea infections (giardiasis) annually. Transmission occurs via fecal oral route, through eating or drinking fecal contaminated food or water. G. lamblia causes Amoebiasis, with a wide spectrum of clinical presentation ranging from asymptomatic infection to diarrhea. It is endemic is several. Thus, the objective of this study is to determine the clinical significance of giardiasis, among patients attending pediatric clinic at Butimba hospital. The result of this study may provide useful information on the burden of giardiasis.

Objective: To determine the prevalence, clinical presentation and management of giardiasis among pediatric patient attending clinic at Butimba hospital.

Methodology: This is the retrospective cross-sectional study design which was conducted at Butimba hospital on December 2020 by reviewing the records on pediatric patients admitted from 2019 to 2020. Data was collected from a study population of 384 pediatric patients using a check list and all data were recorded for all patients; age, gender, residence, clinical presentation, general examination, diagnostic tool, diagnosis and treatment response.

Project implication: Understanding the prevalence of giardiasis in this pediatric population together with clinical presentation and treatment response might be important in devising control measures to reduce morbidity and associated complications specifically in pediatric group.

Conclusion: The overall prevalence rate of giardiasis of giardia infection was 9.9%. Out of 38 positive cases, 7 cases occurred among children infants, 12 patients had age of 2-5 years old, while 19 patients were aged above 6 years. And majority (84.6%) of patients had a short history of diarrhea and proportion of patients presented with prolonged diarrhea of more than two weeks, followed by abdominal pain (76%), nausea and vomiting (82%), loss of appetite (42%), fever (54%) and some dehydration (31.4%). The diagnosis of giardiasis cannot be excluded clinically, hence appropriate laboratory test is crucial to increase the detection rate of this organism. Once detected, the infection is easily treated. Thus, complication and associated morbidity could be prevented.