Prevalence of helminthiasis among some primary school pupils in Yenogoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the prevalence of helminthiasis among some primary school pupils in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Faecal stool samples were collected and analyzed for the prevalence of helminthiasis according to standard techniques. Of the 500 faecal samples analyzed, an overall prevalence of 39% helminthiasis was recorded. The Community Primary Schools in Kpansia, Aguadama-Epie, Edepie, Amarata and Swali had prevalence of 52%, 41%, 38%, 35% and 29% respectively. The prevalence of helminthiasis in male and female pupils were 66% and 27.4%, respectively. Three parasite species namely, Ascaris lumbriciodes (17.6%), Ancylostoma duodenale (13.2%) and Trichuris trichiura (8.2%) were identified. In all the sampled primary school population, pupils that were 5-6 years of age had the highest prevalence of 51.7% while the group aged 15 and above had the lowest of 29.2%. The age difference in relation to occurrence of helminthiasis was not significant (p > 0.05). In all, the prevalence of helminthiasis among the pupils of Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State is high with more occurrence in male pupils than their female counterpart. Therefore, proper hygiene, mass deworming, orientation programmes  on helminthiasis in primary schools be put in place to curb this  menace which could be of economic and health burden for the pupils, their parents and the State at large.