Assessment on the prevalence and risk factors of gastrointestinal parasites on schoolchildren at Bochesa Elementary School, around Lake Zwai, Ethiopia

Brook Lemma,Ayalew Sisay

doi:10.1186/s13104-019-4446-2

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study was aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of gastrointestinal parasites on schoolchildren at Bochesa Elementary School around Lake Zwai, Ethiopia. Cross-sectional study was conducted on 384 schoolchildren in May 2016. The gastrointestinal parasites were examined with wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques. Chi-square (χ2) test was used to evaluate the association between categorical variables and infection prevalence. Binary logistic regression on SPSS version 21 was used, values were considered significant when the p-value was less than 0.05.ResultsThe overall prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites was 22.6%. Males, 54 (14.1%) were more infected than females, 32 (8.3%), and 1–4 grade category, 64 (16.7%) were more infected than 5–8 grade category, 22 (5.7%). Age groups of 7–14, 78 (20.3%) were also more infected than > 15, 8 (2.1%); however, the variation was not significant (p > 0.05). In this study, parasitic coinfection was common; however, single gastrointestinal parasites were more dominant. The overall rate of gastrointestinal parasites shows that the environmental conditions where students pass their times are conducive to water-related diseases. Health education on personal and environmental hygiene keeping should be given to schoolchildren and safe wetland playing grounds should be prepared.

Highlights

Many civilizations have been built on the basis of wetland resources [1]; this indicates that wetlands and people are interdependent with each other [2, 3]
The present study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and risk factors of gastrointestinal parasitic infections on schoolchildren at a school located in close proximity to the wetlands of Lake Zwai
The present study revealed the occurrence of eight species of gastrointestinal parasite on schoolchildren

Summary

Introduction

Many civilizations have been built on the basis of wetland resources [1]; this indicates that wetlands and people are interdependent with each other [2, 3]. The livelihoods of people are intimately linked with wetlands and these interactions lead to the emergence of gastrointestinal parasitic infections [4]. Faecal-oral contact of infective parasitic stages is important route to human infection by water-related gastrointestinal parasites [5, 6]. Factors like eating raw vegetables, lack of hygiene, unsafe drinking water, lack. The prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites varies from region to region [7]. Prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites has been studied in different countries including Ethiopia [7, 8]. It was found out that these diseases are more prevalent on school age children [9–11].

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion