Dual infections of Enteric Salmonella species with Schistosoma mansoni among Patients from Two Hospitals in Jos, Nigeria

Abstract

Schistosomiasis and typhoid fever caused by blood flukes and Salmonella bacteria respectively are leading infectious diseases in most tropical parts of the world especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In countries where both are endemic, co-infection is a consistent reality. This study therefore investigated the incidence of dual Schistosoma mansoni and enteric Salmonella species infections in patients from Eldin Specialist and Plateau Specialist Hospitals, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. In this, a total of 250 each of blood and stool samples were collected from 250 patients who showed positive for widal tests and were receiving health care from the two hospitals. The samples were analyzed using standard methods which included culture, concentration and agglutination (Widal) techniques. Out of the 250 widal-positive patients used, only 34 (13.6%) were positive for typhoid fever by stool culture. The prevalence rates of the dual infections were observed to be 22 (8.8%) and 6 (2.4%) by Widal and stool culture techniques respectively. Co-infection was highest among females (28.6%) within the age bracket 40 - 49 years, followed by males (14.3%) within the age brackets 0 - 9 and 20 - 29 years. There was a stronger relationship between the two organisms by widal test (r = 0.858, P 0.05). Although culture technique is reputed as a gold standard in the diagnosis of typhoid fever, widal test is suggested in the case of co-infection with Schistosoma parasite provided judicious interpretations of results are made against backgrounds of pertinent information. Since both diseases share social circumstances such as poverty and hygiene, governments’ involvements in the improvement of the standard of living of individuals in areas of high endemicity is hereby recommended. Also, cases of the diseases should be detected and promptly treated to avoid further transmissions. Indiscriminate droppings of faeces should be discouraged as rain can wash them into water bodies for onward transmissions. When the organisms are detected from positive samples, treatment should be concurrent with both anti-schistosomal and anti-Salmonellal drugs.