Prevalence of intestinal parasitoses in relationship to diarrhoea among children in Ilorin.

Studies on the role of intestinal parasites in diarrhoeal disease in children were carried out among 907 children of one month to 120 months (10 years) of age both at out patients and inpatients in Unilorin Teaching Hospital. The most common intestinal parasites found were Ascaris lumbricoides (40.9%), Trichuris trichiura (27%), Hookworm (10.2%), Strongyloides stercoralis (9.7%), E. histolytica (6.3%), Trichomona vaginalis (2.8%). Taenia saginata (1.7%) and 1.1% of Paragonimus westermani, among the diarrhoeal cases. But among the non-diarrhoeal group, intestinal parasites loads were lower, except Ascaris lumbricoides (58.2%). The main differences observed between the two groups was that the egg-load was higher among diarrhoeal than in non-diarrhoeal group. The role of parasites in the initiation of diarrhoea in children was discussed.