Intestinal helminths and schistosomiasis among school children in a rural district in Kenya.

Abstract

To determine the extent of intestinal schistosomiasis, ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm infections among school children of Usigu and Bondo divisions of Bondo District. A cross sectional study. Fifty out of 130 primary schools in Usigu and Bondo divisions, Bondo District. Randomly selected school children (n= 3158) aged five to 20 years, were examined for intestinal helminths and schistosomiasis using Kato thick smear technique. The overall prevalence and geometric mean egg counts per gram/faeces for Schistosoma mansoni were 31.6% and 3.1; hookworm 36.8% and 4.1; Trichuris trichiura 21.8% and 1.5, and Ascaris lumbricoides 16.5% and 2.5. More girls (34.9%) than boys (28.6%) were infected with S. mansoni whereas more boys (39.0%) than girls (34.5%) were infected with hookworm. The prevalence of S. mansoni and hookworm infections increased with age but Ascaris and Trichuris infections decreased with age without any sex differences. Children under ten years of age tended to be more heavily infected with ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm than the older ones, while the intensity of S. mansoni increased gradually with age. There were positive relationships between different infections except for a significant negative correlation between Schistosoma mansoni and hookworm infections. Only four cases out of 789 had S. haematobium infection. CONCLUSION. Schistosoma mansoni and geohelminths were endemic in Bondo District, where two thirds of the school children suffered from these parasites. Polyparasitism was also common. There was a little overlap in the distribution of Schistosoma mansoni and hookworm, whereas ascariasis and trichuriasis were fairly distributed in the district.