INTESTINAL GEOHELMINTH NEMATODES INFECTIONS IN LANGAS

Abstract

The prevalence and intensity of intestinal geohelminth nematodes was assessed among school children in Langas Primary School in Eldoret Municipality. The main objective of the study was to determine the relationships between the prevalence and intensities of soil transmitted intestinal geohelminthiases with sanitary resources and conditions, personal hygiene and behavioral habits, and socio- economic status of households.This was a cross-sectional study on randomly selected 285 primary school children. A semi- structured questionnaire was used for the collection of qualitative data. The formal ether concentration technique was used for concentrating helminthes eggs in stool samples and Stoll‟s technique for approximating the number of eggs per gram of faeces. Chi-square was used to test for differences in proportions, while kruskal-wallis test was used to compare mean rank intensities between groups. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify significant predictors of intestinal geohelminthes infections controlling for confounders. The results showed that 159(55.8%) children had intestinal geohelminth nematode infections with males being more infected than the females (56.8% vs. 43.2%). Individuals aged 11-13 years old had significantly the highest prevalence of the nematode infections (75.4%), p<0.005. The specific prevalences of infections were Ascaris Lumbicoides 80 (28.1%), Trichuris trichiura 50 (17.5%) and hookworms 29 (10.2%) while 71 (44.7%) had multiple infections. The overall mean intensities of the infections were Ascaris lumbicoides 256.32 ± 94.90 eggs/g, T. trichiura 102 ±14.10 eggs/g and hookworm 120.69 ±77.4 eggs/g of stool.Fruit washing was a significant factor associated with Ascaris infection (p<0.05). Fruit washing and defecation site at night were significant factors associated with Trichuris and hookworm infections (p<0.05). Personal hygiene and behavioral habits were identified as major risk factors in the transmission of intestinal geohelminthiases. The findings from this study thus support the need for the regular school-based deworming program for the control of intestinal geohelminth nematodes in primary schools. Other counter measures such as public health education on personal hygiene and behavioral habits, and sanitary resources and their conditions should be adopted to minimize the prevalence of intestinal geohelminth nematodes and reduce the infections.