Effect of Diarrhea on Anemia in Children
Diarrhea is an infective and inflammatory condition of gastrointestinal tract characterized by passage of malformed watery stools frequently. Unlikely, the habit of passing normal consistency and shaped stools more than one time a day is not considered as
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Effect of Diarrhea on Anemia in Children
Abstract Diarrhea is an infective and inflammatory condition of gastrointestinal tract characterized by passage of malformed watery stools frequently. Unlikely, the habit of passing normal consistency and shaped stools more than one time a day is not considered as diarrhea. Chronic diarrhea is rampant in developing countries. Preschool children residing in slum areas, villages, and remote areas where the medical facility and awareness are lacking are highly susceptible toward infections of respiratory tract and GIT. It is a common occurrence that they suffer from diarrheal episodes repeatedly in a year, especially in developing countries. Diarrhea is the prime cause of malnutrition in children under 5. Vicious cycle between malnutrition and diarrhea drains and debilitates preschool children. Emaciated children are further predisposed to bacterial and viral infections. Poor sanitization, poor quality of drinking water, defecation in open in villages, leaching and drainage of human excreta in water bodies, poor medical facilities, and inaccessibility and ignorance to hygiene are a few prominent and profound factors for prevalence and incidence of diarrhea.
11.1 Overview Diarrhea is an infective and inflammatory condition of GIT (Gupta 2014a, b). According to WHO (2014), diarrhea is the second leading cause of mortality in preschool children. Generally, a diarrheal episode terminates within a week (NDDI 2013). Infection spreads by use of contaminated food or drinking water (Jill et al. 2010). Diarrhea is a main cause of childhood mortality in the developing countries. It impairs the immunity of affected preschool children (Bern et al. 1992; UNICEF 2005). According to Gibbons and Fuchs (2007), chronic diarrhea is rampant in developing countries. Its attack may persist for more than 2 weeks and is prevalent in children in 2–3 year age group. Chronic diarrhea induces inflammation in the mucosa of duodenum and, therefore, impairs the absorptive capability of small intestine. However, its persistence is accompanied by severe effects on the health of preschool children. It dehydrates and drains minerals from the body. Children become malnourished with compromised immunity, and these children are highly vulnerable to chronic diarrhea (WHO 2014). © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 A. Gupta, Nutritional Anemia in Preschool Children, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-5178-4_11
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11 Effect of Diarrhea on Anemia in Children
11.2 Descriptive Research Study A descriptive study was conducted by the author (Gupta 2014) on children between 2 years and below 5 years in Fazilka city in India. The study was focused to deliver prevalence of diarrhea in children and to ascertain the correlation between diarrhea and wasting among children. The author observed overall prevalence of (5.5%) diarrhea in children. The author found that children (89% and 85%) from schools, anganwadi, and slum areas had normal nutrition status as shown in Table 11.1. Further, the author observed that prevale
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