Prevalence of Schistosomiasis in a neglected community, South western Nigeria at two points in time, spaced three years apart

Abstract

Background In recent years, the prevalence of schistosomiasis , a neglected tropical infection, has increased in underprivileged rural communities characterized by poverty. Objective This cross-sectional community-based study was carried out to determine the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in a neglected community of Apojola community, South-Western Nigeria at two points in time, spaced three years apart Method and results A total of 145 participants were screened and 44.1% were diagnosed to have urinary Schistosoma haematobium infection after sedimentation and microscopy. The prevalence of schistosomiasis among females was higher (45.3%) than that among males (42.4%) but not significantly different (0.723). The prevalence of participants with light infection (26%) was significantly higher than those with heavy infection (11.0%). The predisposing factors with statistically significant association with Schistosoma haematobium infection were age (0.000), level of education (0.002), eating/selling of snails (0.037), occupation (0.000), drinking water (0.001), swimming (0.008), and washing in a river (0.019). Conclusion These findings indicate that the study area is still endemic to urinary schistosomiasis after three years of research and school-age children and teenagers are the populations at risk of urinary schistosomiasis . Community health education on the cause, mode of transmission, prevention, and prompt treatment of schistosomiasis is recommended.

Neuroimmunology of Common Parasitic Infections in Africa

“…Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease currently infecting more than 140 million persons, of which 90% of the burden is in the SSA region ( 220 ). The prevalence of schistosomiasis in SSA is high in endemic regions of some countries e.g., above 50% amongst school age children in some communities in Ethiopia ( 221 ), 40-44.1% in Nigeria ( 222 , 223 ), 21.1% in Ghana ( 224 ), 10.05-26.8% in Zimbabwe ( 225 , 226 ), while some countries such as Senegal have reported a decrease from 78% to about 11% in school age children over a 12-year schistosomiasis control program ( 227 ).…”

Chronic Urogenital Schistosomiasis among In-School Adolescents in Sokoto, North-Western Nigeria

“…Nigeria has been described as the most endemic country for schistosomiasis in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 29 million people reportedly infected and an estimated 101.3 million people at risk of infection [6]. The prevalence of urogenital schistosomiasis in Nigeria has been reported to range from 8.3% to 58.5%, predominantly among school-aged children [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Age, sex, altitude and mean annual rainfall have been identified as important risk factors for the transmission of the disease [16,17].…”

Bioorganometallic Compounds as Novel Drug Targets against Schistosomiasis in Sub-Saharan Africa: An alternative to Praziquantel?

“…Although numerous programs have been directed at fighting the global prevalence of schistosomiasis, infection rates are still extremely high, especially among inhabitants of the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. 6,7,[12][13][14][15] Despite constituting only 13% of the world's population, 15 SSA, which has the world's greatest concentration of poverty, accounts for almost 93% (192 million) of all people infected with schistosomiasis worldwide. 12,13 Approximately 77% of the estimated DALYs attributed to the disease annually are lost in this region alone.…”