A preliminary survey of malnutrition and helminthiasis among school-children in one mountain and one lowland ujamaa village in Northern Tanzania

The nutritional status, parasite prevalence and immediate skin hypersensitivity to Ascaris and Schistosoma antigens were determined for 185 schoolchildren living in two ujamaa villages in Northern Tanzania.In the lowland village of Kwamsisi the parasite ova found were Schistosoma haematobium (53·8%), Ascaris (26·0%) and hookworm (24·7%). 57·5% of the children examined were regarded as malnourished, being less than 80% of their expected weight for age.In the mountain village of Ubiri the parasite prevalence rates were 15·2% for Schistosoma haematobium, 1·6% for S. Mansoni, 65·2% Ascaris and 24·1% hookworm. Malnutrition was found in 81·9% of the boys and in 41·2% of the girls. This sex difference is considered to be due to the physiological effects of living in a hilly environment.Correlation between malnutrition and multiple infections of Ascaris, hookworm and Schistosoma gave a chi-square value of 5·972 (p = 0·02). All other statistical comparisons between parasite prevalence and nutritional status were insignificant.Immediate skin hypersensitivity tests proved unreliable with 23·3% false negatives (negative skin test with parasite ova found). The serum IgE levels were extremely high with a mean of 3174 units per ml suggesting that the immune mechanisms were not retarded by undernutrition.