2008 Volume 74 Issue 1 Pages 13-21
Objective : The present study aimed to clarify relationship between children's habit of eating fish and Opisthorchis viverrini (O. viverrini) infection in central-southern rural area of Laos. We examined the influence of parent's habit of eating fish on children's habit of eating fish.
Methods : September to November in 2006, we selected 59 paired children which was composed of case (with O. viverrini infection) and control (without O. viverrini infection) groups. Face to face interviews were executed to 118 children's parents about fish eating habit of both children and parents, especially about habit of eating raw fish.
Results : Children in the case group was more frequently eating raw fish than those in the control group. Similarly, preference and frequency of eating raw fish in the case group's parent were significantly higher than those in the control group. Significant positive relationships between children and their parents were observed about preference and frequency of eating raw fish in both groups. However, concerning experience of eating raw fish, positive relationships were observed only in the case group. Thus, frequency of eating raw fish in parents gave the strongest influence on the frequency of eating raw fish among children
Conclusion : Based on these results, it was suggested that parent's habit of eating fish might influence children's habit of eating fish. Especially parent's habit of eating raw fish would be considerable risk factor for children's O. viverrini infection.
