Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (2005) 99, 686—691 Giardiasis as a predictor of childhood malnutrition in Orang Asli children in Malaysia M.S. Hesham Al-Mekhlafi a , M. Azlin a , U. Nor Aini b , A. Shaik c , A. Sa’iah d , M.S. Fatmah a , M.G. Ismail a , M.S. Ahmad Firdaus a , M.Y.Aisah a , A.R. Rozlida a , M. Norhayati a,* a Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia b Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, 56000, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia c Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia d Department of Orang Asli Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development, 24 Km, Jalan Pahang, 53100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Received 7 September 2004; received in revised form 29 January 2005; accepted 3 February 2005 KEYWORDS Giardiasis; Protein-energy malnutrition; Micronutrient malnutrition; Vitamin A deficiency; Iron deficiency anaemia; Malaysia Summary A cross-sectional study to examine the association of giardiasis with protein-energy malnutrition, vitamin A deficiency and iron deficiency anaemia was conducted among Orang Asli children in Selangor, Malaysia. A total of 281 children aged 2—15 years were studied. The data were collected using structured question- naires, anthropometric measurements and laboratory analysis of blood and faecal samples. The results showed that 24.9% of the children were infected with Giardia duodenalis, while 56.5, 61.3 and 15.1% had significant underweight, stunting and wasting, respectively. Giardiasis was statistically identified as a strong predictor of significant wasting in this study population. © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 1. Introduction Giardia duodenalis has been recognized as the most common intestinal pathogen worldwide * Corresponding author. Tel.: +6 03 40405546; fax: +6 03 26982640. E-mail address: hayati@medic.ukm.my (M. Norhayati). (Farthing, 1995). In tropical and temperate coun- tries, children are more frequently infected than adults, particularly those who are malnourished (Cheesbrough, 1992). In the developed countries, Giardia has been implicated as a cause of diarrhoea among children in day-care centres (Polis et al., 1986) and travellers (Gray et al., 1994). In devel- oping countries, however, giardiasis is endemic and 0035-9203/$ — see front matter © 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. doi:10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.02.006