Epidemiology of urinary schistosomiasis and knowledge of health personnel in rural communities of South-Western Nigeria

Abstract

Human schistosomiasis is a major water-borne parasitic disease in Nigeria with limited control programme. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and intensity of urinary schistosomiasis, and knowledge of local health personnel in rural communities of the south-western states of Osun and Kwara, Nigeria, by using a filtration technique and a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Of the 620 individuals examined, 346 (55.8%) had an infection with a mean intensity of 65.60 eggs/10ml urine. The age-related prevalence was unimodal with the highest prevalence, 65.9% and mean intensity 67.4eggs/10 ml of infection in the age group of 10 to 14 years. There was a significant difference (P<0.005) in infection rate with respect to male and female (61.9 vs 47.3%) individuals. Of the 92 health personnel interviewed, 32.6% were clinicians, 22.8% health care assistants, and 44.5% consists of others like chemists and pharmacists. The knowledge of health personnel on urinary schistosomiasis varied significantly (p<0.005). Though 46.7% of the clinicians have good knowledge of the treatment and control measure, and 56.7% have a fair knowledge of prevention of schistosome, a very high number of the interviewee (46.7%) consisting of most of the Auxiliary health workers, and others like chemists and pharmacists have no knowledge of the infection. The high prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection in the current study area clearly indicated that this infection remains unabated and as such, local health personnels should be adequately trained on handling urinary schistosomiasis cases in these communities. Key words: Urinary schistosomiasis, rural communities, health personnel, prevalence, intensity, South-western Nigeria.