Age-related differences in prevalence and intensity of Trichuris trichiura in sensory impaired children from two schools in Guatemala

A survey of 102 blind and 218 deaf children in 2 specialized schools in Guatemala revealed distinctly different age-intensity profiles of infection with the intestinal helminth, Trichuris trichiura. In the school for the deaf, intensity (measured as eggs per gram of stool) peaked in the children 7 to 8 years old and dropped to very low average levels in the teenagers. By contrast, in the school for the blind, the intensity of T. trichiura remained low until the early teens. Intensity peaked in the age group 13 to 14 years old, and then decreased in the 15 to 17 years old pupils. Behavioural differences between blind and deaf children, or differences between the schools, may have contributed to this differential pattern of infection.