Parasitic Invasions in Children: Key to Erosive-Ulcerative Diseases of the Gastrointestinal Tract

Erosive-ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract are considered polyetiological diseases, in the development of which a significant role is played by the decrease in the immunological reactivity of the child's body due to helminthic invasions. Therefore, studying parasitic invasions in patients with erosive-ulcerative diseases of the gastrointestinal tract appears to be a relevant problem. A total of 2,071 patients aged 2 to 17 years who were treated at the National Center for Maternal and Child Health for erosive-ulcerative diseases (EUD) of the digestive tract were examined. Based on the localization of the lesions, three groups were identified according to the localization of the lesions, as well as a group of 166 children with functional disorders of the digestive tract. All children underwent examination for the presence of parasitic invasions using stool microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for immunoglobulin G to parasites. The results of the study clearly show that the prevalence of parasitosis in the examined cohort of patients is very high, and this study demonstrated that the presence of parasitic invasions in the examined cohort of children may be a significant factor in the development of erosive-ulcerative diseases of the digestive tract. Therefore, it is necessary to mandatorily include the study of parasitosis in the diagnostic algorithm and further treatment for all children with digestive tract diseases.