The incidence of pinworm (Enterobius vermicularis) in pre-school and school aged children in the Eastern Slovakia

Abstract Helminth infections caused by Enterobius vermicularis have a cosmopolitan character and most often affect the paediatric pre-school and school age population. The presented study was conducted to determine the prevalence of E. vermicularis in the analyzed population of children in the Eastern Slovakia. The Graham’s scotch tape method was used to investigate the presence of Enterobius vermicularis eggs in 390 specimens. The analyzed set consisted of 218 girls and 172 boys, divided by age into three groups - aged from 5 months to 2 years, aged from 3 to 6 years, and aged from 7 to 15 years. Investigation of perianal scotch tapes of children for the presence of E. vermicularis eggs revealed the prevalence of E. vermicularis was P = 3.59 %. Depending on the incidence of E. vermicularis infection, we detected no statistically signifi cant difference (p> 0.05). The prevalence of E. vermicularis in boys was P = 4.07 %, and in girls P = 3.21 %. The highest prevalence of E. vermicularis was recorded in the group of children aged from 3 to 6 years (P = 5.03 %). Most of the samples were positive at age 4 and 5. The lowest prevalence was in the group of children aged from 5 months to 2 years (P = 0.97 %), and the prevalence of E. vermicularis in the group of children aged from 7 to 15 was P = 3.91 %. The difference in the incidence of E. vermicularis infection among different age groups of children was not statistically significant (p> 0.05). Enterobius vermicularis nematode infection and enterobiasis currently represents a major public health problem in Slovakia. At the present its occurrence is the most frequent in the paediatric population. Therefore it is important to introduce a targeted hygienic-epidemiological measure in children’s collectives, what also should include proper and effective diagnostics and frequent recurrent therapy.