The Occurrence of Intestinal Parasites Infections among Children within Pankshin

Abstract

This study evaluates the Occurrence of Intestinal Parasites infection Among Children Within Pankshin local Government Area. The study population was made up of school children of ages between 6 to 15 years using a random sampling method. A questionnaire was administered to survey the pupil’s data such as age, type of toilet available, sex, hand washing habit, water sources, and occupation of parents or guardians. Children were provided with universal containers and requested to bring stool specimen on or before 8:00am in the morning, they were previously and carefully instructed with illustration aids. The specimens were appropriately labeled with identification numbers and placed in a cold box with ice packs, immediately after collection and transported to the biology laboratory of Federal College of Education Pankshin. The Samples were immediately examined. Prevalence was calculated and expressed as percentage of positive cases over the number examined. Data from questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS version 13.0. Chi-square was used to compare significant differences. The overall results of the intestinal parasites indicated that the age and gender distribution of 3000 subjects revealed that there were more females 1580 than males 1420. Out of the 3000 stool specimen, watery stool specimen were (460), semi formed (550), formed (1640) and mucoid stool specimen (350) (Table 1). The intestinal parasites identified in stool specimen includes Hookworm (13.2%), Strongylodies stearcoralis (3.8), Ascaris lumbricoides (20.4%), Taenia sp. (2.9), Trichuris trichiura (1.7%), and Entamoeba histolytica (54.1%) (Table 2). Males (71.0) were more infected than female (49.5) also age group 6-10 years (54.7) is more infected 11-15years (43.2). We therefore recommend reintroduction of health education and sanitary inspection in Pankshin LGA of Plateau State.