Studies on the Occurrence of Geohelminths amongst Children and Young Adults in Ovia North-East LGA of Edo State, South-South, Nigeria

Abstract

In three schools in the Ovia North East Area of Edo State, Nigeria, the infection of children and young people with parasitic worms was researched. Positive cases were determined using physical and parasitological methods of evaluating faecal material. Of the 2,045 individuals examined, 1072 had one type of helminth parasite (parasitic worm) or other. The identified parasites were Ascaris lumbricoides (N=804), Strongylloides stecoralis (N=211), Taenia sp (N=111), Trichuris trichuria (N=278) and Ancylosloma duodenele (N=487). The total incidence of the infection was 52.4 percent, with the highest prevalence and severity of infections (63.0 percent; 641 parasites) in children aged 9-11 years, followed by those aged 6-8 years (61.1 percent; 526 parasites). The prevalence of helminthic infection was negatively correlated (r= 0.386; P0.1), with males having significantly higher rates (57.7) of infection than the females (47.3%) (P<0.05).