Complete Blood Count in Children with Acute Diarrhea in Samarra City, Iraq

Abstract

Diarrhea is a complicated disease that cause morbidity and mortality in children, specially in developing countries. It's the second leading cause of death in children under 5 worldwide, killing 2.4 million a year. This study was conducted through the period from 2nd of Junary to 3rd of March for the patients admitted to Samarra hospital and health care centers in Samarra City. The overall rate of E. histolytica and bacterial infection such as E. coli infections among school children was 58.3% and 41.7% respectively. In E. histolytica, the highest rate was 19 infection among 7-10 years followed by 9 in the age groups of 10-15 and 7 infections for the age group 5-7. E. coli was 12 infections, among 7-10, and 11 among 5-7, the lowest was 2 among 10-15 years old groups. Complete blood count results shows an elevation in bold parameters among infected children compared to healthy children. Total protein and albumin values did not differ significantly between infected and healthy children. Although the globulin value did not vary significantly between children infected with Entamoeba histolytica, and non-infected children but in E. coli infected children was lower than healthy children (P<0.01). The table also shows significant difference of zinc concentration (μmol/L) in serum of children with E. histolytica and E. coli infected and non-infected children. Serum zinc concentration in all infected children was significantly lower than non-infected ones (P<0.05).