Abdul Seif, Masue Victoria, Mlemba Magreth A, Massawe Rafaeli, Mosha Victor, Leyaro Beatrice J, Msuya Sia E
Institute of Public Health, Department of Community Health, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi, Tanzania.
Institute of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Moshi, Tanzania.
East Afr Health Res J. 2024;8(1):13-19. doi: 10.24248/eahrj.v8i1.743. Epub 2024 Mar 28.
Schistosomiasis is an acute and chronic tropical disease caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. It is a disease of public health concern and mostly affects developing countries of the tropics. According to WHO burden of the disease is as high as 80-85%, principally in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the majority of the infection is often linked with morbidity, it also results in considerable death. The overall annual mortality rate might exceed 200,000 people in Africa due to different complications of urinary and intestinal Schistosomiasis. Children are at a greater risk of acquiring the infection as well as reinfection, and this might cause growth retardation, anemia and low school performance.
The study aimed at determining the prevalence of associated factors and evaluating the performance of Point of Care Circulating Cathodic Antigen comparison (POC-CCA) against a routine method (formal Ether) of detection methods among school aged children at Mwanga District Council, Kilimanjaro Tanzania.
This was a cross sectional study conducted from April - June 2019 in Mwanga District Council. A minimum of 288 primary school children in Mwanga District were enrolled. Random sampling technique was used to select the participants. Interviews were conducted with study participants followed by single stool and urine sample collection. formal-ether concentration technique, urine dipstick and Point of Care Circulating Cathodic Antigen (POC-CCA) were used for stool and urine analysis. Data were entered and cleaned by using SPSS Version 20. Descriptive statistics were summarised using frequency and proportion for categorical variables and mean and standard dispersion for continuous variables. Logistic regression was used to identify independent factors associated with schistosomiasis. Any association with <.05 was considered significant.
A total of 288 participants were enrolled. The mean age of participants was 9.8 (±2.4) years. The prevalence of among the 288 students was 7.3% by formal ether method and 80.4% by POC-CCA. Social demographic characteristics, and hygiene practice assessed were not associated with in this study. Water source was statistically significantly associated with the prevalence of .
The prevalence of among school aged children is low by using formal-ether concentration technique (routine method). The annual projects of deworming might have helped decrease the endemicity of the infection. This is due to regular deworming project as recommended by WHO. Despite various efforts which are done to deworm, school aged children are still at risk of acquiring infection, due to poor hygienic practice especially from water sources.
血吸虫病是一种由血吸虫属吸虫引起的急慢性热带疾病。它是一个公共卫生问题，主要影响热带地区的发展中国家。据世界卫生组织统计，该疾病负担高达80%-85%，主要集中在撒哈拉以南非洲地区。虽然大多数感染通常与发病相关，但也会导致相当数量的死亡。由于泌尿和肠道血吸虫病的不同并发症，非洲每年的总死亡率可能超过20万人。儿童感染和再感染的风险更高，这可能导致生长发育迟缓、贫血和学业成绩不佳。
本研究旨在确定坦桑尼亚乞力马扎罗地区姆万加区议会学龄儿童中相关因素的患病率，并评估即时检测循环阴极抗原检测法（POC-CCA）与常规检测方法（正规乙醚法）的检测性能。
这是一项于2019年4月至6月在姆万加区议会进行的横断面研究。姆万加区至少288名小学生参与研究。采用随机抽样技术选取参与者。对研究参与者进行访谈，随后收集单一粪便和尿液样本。采用正规乙醚浓缩技术、尿试纸条和即时检测循环阴极抗原（POC-CCA）对粪便和尿液进行分析。使用SPSS 20版录入和清理数据。分类变量的描述性统计采用频率和比例进行总结，连续变量采用均值和标准差进行总结。采用逻辑回归确定与血吸虫病相关的独立因素。任何P<0.05的关联都被认为具有统计学意义。
共纳入288名参与者。参与者的平均年龄为9.8（±2.4）岁。在这288名学生中，采用正规乙醚法检测的血吸虫病患病率为7.3%，采用POC-CCA法检测的患病率为80.4%。本研究中评估的社会人口统计学特征和卫生习惯与血吸虫病无关。水源与血吸虫病患病率在统计学上有显著关联。
采用正规乙醚浓缩技术（常规方法）检测，学龄儿童中的血吸虫病患病率较低。每年的驱虫项目可能有助于降低感染的流行程度。这是由于按照世界卫生组织的建议定期开展驱虫项目。尽管已采取各种驱虫措施，但由于卫生习惯不良，尤其是水源卫生问题，学龄儿童仍有感染风险。
