Department of Biology, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Dilla University, Dilla 419, SNNPR, Ethiopia.
Department of Biotechnology, VPASS College, Baramati, Maharashtra, India.
Biomed Res Int. 2022 Apr 11;2022:5908938. doi: 10.1155/2022/5908938. eCollection 2022.
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 (8.9%) followed by (7.7%), (5.4%), hookworm (4.7%), (2.5%), (2.2%), (1.7%), and (0.7%), respectively. Highest prevalence was observed in male students (39.6%) compared to female students (28.8%) ( < 0.05). 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 ( < 0.05). 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 ( < 0.05). 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.
三种主要的肠道蠕虫感染（IHI），即蛔虫病、鞭虫病和钩虫病，是全球常见的临床疾病。这些 IHI 在热带和亚热带国家更为普遍，特别是在撒哈拉以南非洲等发展中国家，这些国家的儿童因这些感染而导致发病率、死亡率以及身体和智力发育迟缓。在埃塞俄比亚，IHI 在各个年龄段都存在，主要是由于缺乏教育、社会经济地位低下以及药物供应不足和缺乏适当的认识等因素所致。本研究旨在评估肠道蠕虫感染在埃塞俄比亚奥罗米亚古吉地区阿多拉镇儿童中的流行情况和相关危险因素。2019 年 8 月至 12 月期间，共采集了 404 份粪便样本，放入清洁、干燥、带螺旋盖的宽口塑料容器中，用 10%福尔马林溶液固定，并运送到阿多拉医院实验室，通过湿片镜检法和改良醛醚沉淀法进行进一步的显微镜分析。使用 SPSS 版本 20 进行数据分析，采用二元逻辑回归模型，使用比值比和 95%置信区间进行分析。研究发现，儿童 IHI 的总体流行率为 33.91%（137/404）。双重感染率为 2.72%（11/404）。最主要的物种是蛔虫（8.9%），其次是鞭虫（7.7%）、钩虫（5.4%）、蛲虫（4.7%）、毛首鞭形线虫（2.5%）、类圆线虫（2.2%）、东方毛圆线虫（1.7%）和微小膜壳绦虫（0.7%）。与女性学生（28.8%）相比，男学生（39.6%）的感染率更高（<0.05）。在 6-10 岁、11-15 岁、16-20 岁和 20 岁以上的学生中，IHI 的流行率分别为 49.6%、35.8%、10.9%和 3.6%（<0.05）。肠道蠕虫感染与一些危险因素显著相关，如性别、学生的教育水平、厕所使用习惯、洗手习惯、进食前和便后洗手习惯、洗手目的和对肠道蠕虫的认识（<0.05）。在研究区域，肠道蠕虫感染的流行率处于中等偏高水平，是儿童健康的一个公共卫生问题。因此，所有利益攸关方都应关注提高健康教育计划的认识，如个人卫生、环境卫生、改善饮用水质量和治疗等，以减少肠道蠕虫感染的后果。
