Nutritional Status in Children in an Endemic Area of South Eastern Nigeria

The association between onchocerca infection, vision and nutritional status in children aged 5-14 years in an onchocerciasis endemic area in Nigeria was evaluated using pre-ivermectin baseline data. A total of 6950 children in 3 local government areas (LGAs) was examined. The crude prevalence of microfilariae was 27.7% and of nodules 20.6%. The overall intensity was 5.3 ±. 7.6 SD microfilariae per skin snip. Only 1% of the children had visual impairment. Weight for -age, weightforheight, heightforage and body mass index (weight/height ) were used as nutritional indices. Evidence of severe malnutrition was found in 56 % of children. Logistic regression showed that the presence of nodules and high microfilarial load were risk factors for weight-for-age, weight-for-height, heightfor-age, and body mass index.