A STUDY ON THE INTESTINAL WORM INFECTION IN CENTRAL URBAN COMMUNITY, KANO STATE NIGERIA

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are highly prevalent in developing countries, particularly in the tropics, and pose serious medical and public health problems. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over two billion people are infected with one or more types of soil-transmitted intestinal parasites. Infection in man is by parasites belonging to either the nematodes (round worm) or platyhelminthes (flat worm) phylum. Identifying the most at risk group and subsequent targeted intervention will lead to cost effective and easy to implement control programme. We thus aim to determine the prevalence and pattern of intestinal parasite among different groups in urban community.

Method: This was a cross-sectional survey. Participants were recruited through multistage stratified random sampling. Information were collected using a questionnaire and early morning freshly passed stool sample was collected and processed from each particiant, 149 children were randomly selected from Gwale and Dala Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria, between February and September, 2020. Faecal samples were collected from these subjects. Direct saline and iodine preparations were examined as well as the preparation from sedimentation technique. The Kato-katz technique was used for determination of intensity of worm infection.

Result: 96 (64.43%) school children were infected. Ascaris lumbricoides,hook worm, Schistosoma mansoni, Hymenolepis nana and T. trichiura were the intestinal parasites found in the study population. Outof the infected children, 30 (36%) were positive for A. lumbricoides, 21 (25%) werepositive for E. histolytica, 14 (18%) were positive for Schistosoma mansoni, 12 (13%) were positive for Hymenolepis nana and7 (8%) were positive forT. Trichiura. The age groups of 5-7 years is having the highiest prevalence of 19.79%, while those of the age group 20-22 having 7.29% of intestinal parasites. The overall infection rate in males and females were 40.62% and 59.38% respectively, which implies that infection rate was higher in females but not statistically significant (P>0.05). The differences observed in the infection rates in the study locations were also not statistically significant (P>0.05).

Conclusion Intestinal parasitic infection remains a very common problem among children in urban centers in Nigeria with the highest burden among children. We recommend incorporation and provision of free anthelminthic to all children, while addressing the major risk factors in the society.