الفهرس 
Parasites and host relationsOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Parasitic infections are among the most common global healH problems. They affect millions of people living in tropical and subtropica: areas. Although mortality from parasites is low, yet they adversely interfere with nutrition, immune status, growth, development, productivity and cognitive functions of infected individuals. Parasitic infections persist and flourish wherever pove11y, lack of sanitation, insufficient health care, inadequate health education and overcrowding are present. In such poor habitations, environmental factors promote the survival and transmission of parasites and aggravate the impact of these infections on people. School-aged children are the most vulnerable group, and the prevalence and multiple infections, in general, increase with age to the 6-15 years age group. Their infection rates and total worm burden are usually higher than those of adults, and they usually have higher reinfection rates than adults. Although parasitic infection is a major public health problem, it is still underestimated, neglected and people are completely unaware of it. The need to control these infections has become a viable option for many communities. Treatment by medication was proved to be highly effective against these infections, but additional health education is import~nt to avoid reinfection. The present work was performed to study the prevalence of parasitic fections among children in El Ola El Sharkiah village in West lexandria, to find out the factors affecting the presence of such parasitic fections, to design, implement and evaluate two different intervention lrograms to control such infections. The study was conducted on 608 children aged 6-18 years. At seline of the study, stool samples were collected from children and were alyzed using fm”mol ether concentration technique for detection of rasitic ova and cysts and modified Ziehl-Neelsen technique for detection if coccidia, data was also collected from mothers using a pre-designed luestionnaire that included personal and demographic data, environmental d housing conditions and questions for knowledge and practices ncerning parasitic infections. Collected data were used to develop a health education program for ontrol of parasitic infections. The health education program aimed at creasing mother’s knowledge about parasitic infections and changing nhygienic practices to hygienic one. Program was done via lecture iscussion, posters, slides, and stories, and by the end of the program, .others were able to know different types of parasites, their effects on ,ealth, how to prevent and control parasitic infections and to appreciate the mportance of seeking medical advice if their children suffer from parasitic fections. Out of examined children, 258 were found to have parasitic infections, they were divided randomly into three experimental groups. Group I included 101 children who were given anti-parasitic chemotherapy, group 11 included 104 children, they were also given antiparasitic chemotherapy and their mothers were subjected to a health education program, and group III (53 children), they were a control group who were neither treated nor had health education program. Early evaluation of the impact of health education program was done immediately after implementation of the program using the same questionnaire, to assess early changes in knowledge and practices of A second post-intervention survey was conducted one year after intervention using the same questionnaire and laboratory methods done at base-line survey.