Abe Eniola M, Echeta Onyinye C, Ombugadu Akwashiki, Ajah Linus, Aimankhu Peter O, Oluwole Akinola S
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD), Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases, Shanghai 200025, China.
Department of Zoology, Federal University of Lafia, P.M.B 146, Lafia 950101, Nigeria.
Trop Med Infect Dis. 2019 Jul 29;4(3):112. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed4030112.
The burden of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) infections in Nigeria is enormous with serious public health significance. This study, therefore, assessed helminthiasis among school-age children and the hygiene conditions of schools in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria between December 2015 and April 2016 from four randomly selected primary schools. Stool samples were collected from 200 primary school pupils including 80 males (40%) and 120 females (60%) between five and 16 years, using clean sample bottles and a standard parasitology examination technique at the central laboratory at the Federal University, Lafia. An overall prevalence of 33.5% (67/200) helminths infections was recorded. A checklist of , hookworm, , and was generated from the pooled data of the four studied schools in which occurred highest with 13% (26/200) while was the least prevalent at 2.50% (5/200). Among the schools sampled, St. James Pilot Science Primary School's children were the most infected at 44% (22/50). Multiple infections were observed in three of the four schools sampled. There was no significant difference ( > 0.05) in prevalence rates of different STHs infections in relation to age group and gender across schools. Our findings showed that the hygiene conditions in the studied schools were poor without water, hand washing materials, refuse bins, as well as poor sanitary conditions. This study also identified ova and larvae of STHs parasites in the analyzed soil samples from the studied schools. Most school-age children had knowledge about contamination but few among them washed their hands with water and soap. The obtained result indicated a negative association between the prevalence of STHs and the proportion of pupils that cleaned up with water after defection. We, therefore, advise that hygiene conditions in schools be improved and that the government should prioritize enrolling all primary schools in Nasarawa state for the school health program so as to reduce the burden of STHs among school-age children in the state.
土壤传播蠕虫（STH）感染在尼日利亚的负担极为沉重，具有重大的公共卫生意义。因此，本研究于2015年12月至2016年4月期间，从尼日利亚纳萨拉瓦州拉菲亚市随机选取了四所小学，对学龄儿童的蠕虫病感染情况以及学校的卫生状况进行了评估。使用干净的样本瓶，并在拉菲亚联邦大学中央实验室采用标准寄生虫学检查技术，从200名年龄在5至16岁的小学生中采集粪便样本，其中包括80名男性（40%）和120名女性（60%）。记录到蠕虫感染的总体患病率为33.5%（67/200）。根据四所研究学校的汇总数据生成了蛔虫、钩虫和鞭虫的清单，其中蛔虫感染率最高，为13%（26/200），而鞭虫感染率最低，为2.50%（5/200）。在抽样的学校中，圣詹姆斯试点科学小学的儿童感染率最高，为44%（22/50）。在抽样的四所学校中有三所观察到多重感染情况。不同STH感染的患病率在各学校中与年龄组和性别之间没有显著差异（P>0.05）。我们的研究结果表明，所研究学校的卫生条件很差，没有水、洗手材料、垃圾桶，卫生状况也很差。本研究还在所研究学校的分析土壤样本中发现了STH寄生虫的虫卵和幼虫。大多数学龄儿童了解污染情况，但其中很少有人用水和肥皂洗手。获得的结果表明，STH的患病率与排便后用水清洁的学生比例之间存在负相关。因此，我们建议改善学校的卫生条件，政府应优先将纳萨拉瓦州的所有小学纳入学校健康计划，以减轻该州学龄儿童的STH负担。
