Prevalence and intensity of infections of three neglected tropical diseases in patients consulted at a Traditional Health Care Centre in Dschang West Cameroon.

BACKGROUND

In recent times, soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections seem to loose more and more interest due to the fact that resources are being justifiably diverted to more recent priorities such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. In developing countries, the upsurge of intestinal helminth infections constitutes a problem not only of public health concern but also of development.

AIM

To find out the prevalence of STH infections in persons visiting the traditional health care centre in west Cameroon.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In order to evaluate the prevalence and intensity of STH infections, in persons visiting the centre of phytomedecine, a parasitological investigation of feces was carried out in 223 stools, using three techniques (direct examination, concentration method of Willis, and Mc Master technique).

RESULTS

130 stools were collected from male and 93 from female subjects, hence a sex ratio of 1.4:1. Among the 223 stools examined, 97 specimens were found to be positive with one or several parasite species, thus giving a prevalence of 45.3%. The parasitism occurs from early age (1-10 years) reaching 4.5%. The most infected age group was 21-30 years (31%). Female subjects (28.3%) were statistically more infected than males (15.2%). The intestinal nematode species found were Trichuris trichiura (19.2%), Ascaris lumbricoides (13.4%), and hookworm (10.7%). These parasites occurred as single (19.2%) or multiple infections (10.3%). The mean fecal eggs count was 3722±672, 875±462, and 563±283 for A. lumbricoides, hookworm, and T. trichiura, respectively.

CONCLUSION

These results show the necessity of the application of suitable measures which are aimed at reducing the extent of STH.