Malaria and intestinal helminthiasis in school children of Kumba Urban Area, Cameroon.

BACKGROUND

Malaria and intestinal helminthiasis are parasitic diseases causing high morbidity and mortality in most tropical parts of the world, where climatic conditions and sanitation practices favour their prevalence. These infections do co-exist and have different effects on infected individuals.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the level of endemicity of malaria and helminth infections in school children of the Kumba Urban Area of Cameroon, and to determine how these infections relate to each other.

DESIGN

Cross sectional study.

SETTING

Four primary schools in the Kumba urban area.

SUBJECTS

Two hundred and forty three randomly selected pupils aged four and fifteen years of both sexes.

RESULTS

All two hundred and forty three pupils had malaria parasites in their blood. The geometric mean parasite load was 1282 parasites per microl of blood. Only 17 pupils were anaemic (PCV<30%), The helminth infections showed a 38.3% prevalence, with a geometric mean parasite load of 687 eggs per gram of faeces. Co-infections were recorded in 38.3% of the pupils. There was no significant correlation between the helminth and malaria parasite densities (r=0.04, P=0.7337).

CONCLUSION

Both malaria and helminth parasites do co-exist without clinical symptoms of infection in school children of the Kumbi Urban Area.