Prevalence and Intensity of Schistosomiasis in Endemic Parts of Siaya County after Mass Deworming With Praziquantel; Understanding Community Perception on the Associated Factors

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by schistosomes or blood flukes of the genus schistosoma. According to World Health Organization (WHO). Also known as bilharzia or ‘snail fever’ the disease is one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases in the world. The highest intensity of the infection is usually observed in children but chronic consequences of infection may last into adulthood. The study was conducted in hot-spot and non-hot spot areas of Siaya County. A cross sectional study design adopting both quantitative and qualitative techniques was employed. The target population consisted of both Primary School-aged children and adults in ten (10) selected villages from hot spot areas of Bondo, Siaya County. Cluster sampling technique was used to select the ten (10) villages after which 200 participants were randomly selected from the clustered villages. Kato Katz technique was then used to obtain quantitative data microscopically and for further quantitative data, structured self-administered questionnaire was also used. Key Informant Interviews were conducted to obtain qualitative information from the selected parents and teachers as well as community health workers. Statistical tests were performed using R version 4.2.0 setting a 2-tailed α to reject the null hypothesis at 0.05. Data tables presenting categorical data as percentages with observed proportions was analyzed by prop test, while continuous data was presented using model means with 95% Confidence Intervals (95% CI). From the participants that consisted of 100 children aged between 9 to 17 years and 100 adults aged between 18 to 70 years, 81 of them (40.5%) tested positive for Schistosomiasis. Intensity levels were found to be higher in females compared to males 0.95 (95% CI = 0.48, 1.4, P = 0.03) and in adults compared to children 1.1 (95% CI = 0.64, 1.6, P <0.01).