Intestinal helminth and the predisposing factors in Fufore LGA of Adamawa state
1 Department of Biology (Medical Parasitology and Public Health), Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria.
2 Department of Biological Sciences (Public Health), ATBU Bauchi, Nigeria.
3 Department of Human Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Federal University Wukari, Nigeria.
Research Article
International Journal of Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Archive, 2023, 06(02), 066–074.
Article DOI: 10.53771/ijbpsa.2023.6.2.0067
Publication history:
Received on 07 June 2023; revised on 17 October 2023; accepted on 20 October 2023
Abstract:
Background & Objective: Helminths have plagued humans since the era of our earliest recorded history. A large part of the world's population are infected with one or more of helminthes infection (WHO, 2016). Helminthes are endemic and have been a major problem in rural settlements in Nigeria this is as a result of poor socio- economic status and lack of basic amenities such as pipe borne water and other sanitary facilities (Okon and Okun, 2001). They also have detrimental effects on animal survival (Silva et al., 2009) and these parasites have the potential of being transmitted to human (Batchelor et al., 2008). To provide information on the prevalence, intensity and predisposing factors of intestinal helminth among School-aged children in relation to their age and gender in Fufore.
Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of intestinal helminth and the predisposing factors in Fofure LGA of Adamawa State between October and November 2022 where five Schools were sampled for the study. 300 Students between the ages 0-15 years were randomly selected and grouped into three age groups (0-5, 6-10, 11-15). 300 stool samples were obtained from the students and examined. Each were issued a structured questionnaire so as to obtain their demographic characteristics and to examine the possible risk factors associated with this infection.
Result: out of the 300 Students examined, 17(5.7%) were positive for intestinal helminth and the Males (6.7%) had significantly higher prevalence (P < 0.05) than the Females (4.4%). In respect to age, the age group 0-5 (11.5%) were significantly more infected (P < 0.05) followed by the age group 6-10 (7.9%) than the extreme age group 11-15 (1.5%) examined. Three parasites namely Schistosoma mansoni, Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichiuris trichiura were recovered. The most common of these parasites were Schistosoma mansoni and Ascaris lumbricoides which occurred in high intensity in most of the positive samples.
Interpretation and Conclusion: The result of this study revealed that, poverty, ignorance, socio-cultural practice, poor hygienic practices, inadequate sanitary/ toiletry facility to be the driving forces of this infection in the study area. Intervention needed to curtail the effect and further transmission of this infection include; massive treating and health education, provision of portable drinking water and provision of good sanitary/ toilet facility.
Keywords:
Adamawa State; Fufore LGA; School-aged; Intestinal helminth; Intensity; Predisposing factors
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