cutaneous larva migrans among devotees of the nallur temple in jaffna, sri lanka皮肤幼虫迁移动物在贾夫纳nallur神殿的信徒中,斯里兰卡.pdfVIP

Cutaneous Larva Migrans among Devotees of the Nallur Temple in Jaffna, Sri Lanka 1 1 2 Selvam Kannathasan *, Arumugam Murugananthan , Nadarajah Rajeshkannan , Nilanthy Renuka de Silva3 1 Division of Parasitology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 2 Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, 3 Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Ragama, Sri Lanka Abstract Background: Many cases of Cutaneous Larva Migrans (CLM) have been observed among devotees, during and immediately after the annual festival at the Nallur Hindu temple in Jaffna. Objective: To ascertain the risk factors associated with infestation and devotees’ knowledge and practices regarding the condition. Methodology/Principal Findings: A cross-sectional study using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and observation was conducted in August 2010. Out of 200 selected devotees 194(97%) responded. Soil and dog faecal samples were collected from the temple premises and examined for the presence of nematode larva and egg respectively. Among 194 male respondents, 58.2%(95% CI: 51.2%–65.0%) had lesions of CLM. One hundred and thirty (67%) respondents performed the ritual everyday; whereas 33% did so on special days. One hundred and twelve (57.7%) participants performed the ritual before 5.00am and remaining 42.3% performed after 5.00am. Among the participants, 77(36.7%) had the similar condition in previous years. One hundred and fifty seven (80.9%) were aware about this disease and 52(27%) devotees adopted some kind of precautionary measures. Bivariate analysis showed significant association between occurrence of CLM lesions and