Affiliation:
1. Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla 419, SNNPR, Ethiopia
2. Department of Biotechnology, VPASS College, Baramati, Maharashtra, India
3. Parul Institute of Applied Sciences, Parul University, Vadodara, 391760 Gujarat, India
Abstract
The three main intestinal helminth infections (IHIs), ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm, are common clinical disorders worldwide. These IHIs are more prevalent in tropics and subtropical countries especially in developing countries like sub-Saharan Africa responsible for morbidity, mortality, and physical as well as intellectual growth retardation in children. In Ethiopia, the burden of IHIs appears in all ages mainly due to factors like lack of education, low socio-economic status, and inadequate supply of drugs and proper awareness. The present study was carried out to access the prevalence of intestinal helminth infections and associated risk factors among school children in Adola town from Guji Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia, from August 2019 to December 2019. 404 stool samples were collected in a clean, dry, screw-capped, and wide-mouthed plastic container, fixed with 10% formal-saline solution, and transported to the Adola Hospital laboratory for further microscopic analysis by wet mount following formal ether concentration technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 by binary logistic regression model using odd ratio with 95% CI. The overall prevalence of IHIs among school children was found to be 33.91% (137/404). Rate of double infection was noted to be 2.72% (11/404). Most dominant species was Ascaris lumbricoides (8.9%) followed by Hymenolepis nana (7.7%), Taenia saginata (5.4%), hookworm (4.7%), Trichuris trichiura (2.5%), Schistosoma mansoni (2.2%), Enterobius vermicularis (1.7%), and Strongyloides stercoralis (0.7%), respectively. Highest prevalence was observed in male students (39.6%) compared to female students (28.8%) (
). The prevalence of IHIs among school children in the age group of 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, and above 20 was 49.6%, 35.8%, 10.9%, and 3.6%, respectively (
). IHI was significantly associated with some of the risk factors such as gender, educational level of students’, toilet usage habit, habit of hand washing, hand washing habit before feeding and after defecation, purpose of hand washing, and awareness to intestinal helminths (
). In the study area, the prevalence of IHIs is moderately high and represents a public health problem in the school children. Therefore, all stakeholders should pay attention to raise awareness about health education programs such as proper personal hygiene, environmental sanitation, improving the quality of drinking water, and treatment to reduce the consequences of intestinal helminths.
Subject
General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Reference50 articles.
1. Intestinal parasitic infection among school children;B. Shakya;Journal of Nepal Health Research Council,2012
2. Prevalence and Factors Associated with Intestinal Parasitic Infection among Children in an Urban Slum of Karachi
3. Soil-transmitted helminth infections: ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm
4. Prevention and control of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis: report of a WHO expert committee;World Health Organization;WHO Technical Report Series,2002
5. The health impact of polyparasitism in humans: are we under-estimating the burden of parasitic diseases?