African Journal of Biotechnology
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African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (9), pp. 938-941, September 2005
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis among school age children in
Ethiope East Local Government Area, Delta State, Nigeria
EGWUNYENGA, O. ANDY1 and ATAIKIRU, D. PALMER2 1Department
of Zoology, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria. 2Parasitology
Laboratory, Baptist Medical Centre, Eku, Delta State, Nigeria. Accepted
23 August, 2005 |
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| Abstract | |||||
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The prevalence and intensity of soil-transmitted helminth infections and their relationship to anthropometric indices of 1,351 school children from Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria were evaluated. 739 (54.70%) of the subjects were infected by soil-transmitted helminths (STH). The overall prevalences by species were Ascaris lumbricoides (48.41%), hookworms (29.76%), and Trichuris trichiura (17.39%). 174 (12.88%) were infected with two or more STHs. Males (60.81%) were generally more infected than females (43.30%), but this was only statistically significant among children aged 5 – 7 years. The mean number of eggs per gram of faeces (epg) was generally low. Analysis of epg for each species indicated that 7.8, 7.60 and 1.70% of the subjects had high intensity of infections for Ascaris, hookworms and Trichuris, respectively. There was no relationship between intensity of infections and wasting, while children with high intensity of infections were more stunted than others.
Key words: Soil-transmitted helminths ,school-age, children, nigeria,prevalence. |
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