Abstract
The prevalence of amoebiasis was investigated among pregnant women using a gold standard microscopy method. Stool samples were collected from pregnant women, from two primary health care centers (Iwaya and Ebute-metta). The study involved 203 pregnant women during their visits to the antenatal clinic in Primary health centres at Lagos Mainland from June – October, 2016. Each participant was interviewed using questionnaires to relate prevalence and risk factors to their socio-demographic characteristics. Among these pregnant women, 120 respondents provided their stool samples and this was parasitologically screened with 0.8% prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica infection, 7.5% with Entamoeba Coli, 0.5% with Ascaris lumbricoides, and 0.8% infection with Hookworm. A prevalence of 0.8% for the mixed infection of Ascaris lumbricoides with Entamoeba histolytica, and a prevalence of 1.7% for the mixed infection of Entamoeba coli and Entamoeba histolytica was recorded. Significant association (p<0.05), was established between infection and diarrhoea, and the residence of the pregnantwomen.Socio - demographic factors like age, sex, socio-economic status, type of toilet, source of drinking water (p>0.05) showed no significant association with amoebiasis prevalence. In conclusion, E. histolytica infection is generally low in Lagos state owing to good environmental sanitation within Lagos metropolis. Efforts should therefore be geared towards its elimination by provision of water for Lagos residents.
Highlights
In the developing world, it has been reported that millions of people are being affected by neglected tropical diseases and protozoan parasites due to poor hygienic practices and sanitation (Hotez et al, 2007) .Amoebiasis is a disease caused by Entamoeba species
Age related prevalence was subhected to Fisher's Exact Test (0.899>0.05), the result shows that E. histolytica infection was not prevalent in all age groups; prevalence of E
The results showed the occurrence of some other intestinal parasites of public health importance besides Entamoeba histolytica among the study group and evidence of mixed infections with Entamoeba histolytica
Summary
It has been reported that millions of people are being affected by neglected tropical diseases and protozoan parasites due to poor hygienic practices and sanitation (Hotez et al, 2007) .Amoebiasis is a disease caused by Entamoeba species. These include: Entamoeba histolytica, Entamoeba dispar, Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba hartmani, Entamoeba polecki, and Entamoeba gingivalis. It is estimated that up to 10% of the world's population may be infected with either E. histolytica or E. dispar (or both) and in many tropical countries the prevalence may approach 50%
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