Risk factors affecting the occurrence of urinary schistosomiasis and urinary tract infections in some communities of Ondo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases, affecting about 240 million people worldwide. Urinary schistosomiasis (US) is a chronic and debilitating disease caused by blood flukes, Schistosoma. haematobium and people with the US are vulnerable to secondary infections caused by bacteria. The study was designed to evaluate the risk factors involved in US and urinary tract infection (UTI) in parts of Ondo State, Nigeria. The study areas were rural communities known to be endemic for schistosomiasis, with farming as their major occupation and they depend solely on the use of the infected rivers for their day to day activities. Structured questionnaires were administered to obtain information concerning the infections. Five hundred and nine community dwellers participated in the study. The results showed that schistosomiasis was significant for gender and age (X2(1) = 23.934, p = 0.000) and (X2(7) = 85.991, p = 0.000), respectively, while UTI was not significant for age and gender. The study revealed that gender, age, contact with infected water, and duration spent in the water were risk factors associated with the development of schistosomiasis and UTI in the communities.

Promoting Sustainable Development in Combating Schistosomiasis through Community-Centric Approaches: The Role of Social Empowerment and Education in Ondo State

“…Movement of infected persons from these communities to an urban area will spread the infection through poor hygiene and improper disposal of waste materials [22]. In communities of Ondo state, the risk factors involved in the development of schistosomiasis were the contact and duration of contact with infected rivers, the age group of individuals living in the communities, occupation and their educational background [23]. To control and limit the spread of infection, emphasis should be placed on educating individuals who are more at risk of the infection (school children, farmers, fishermen and women) on schistosomiasis infection [19].…”

“…Laboratory techniques used in the study The laboratory technique used in most studies was haematuria [41,42,23,8] either selfreported by the patients or detected using a reagent strip. This was preferred by most researchers due to its ease and convenience.…”

“…However, this indirect method of diagnosing schistosome infection is not reliable despite its ease due to the fact that other diseases (urinary tract infections, bladder cancer and kidney stones) can also result into haematuria [46]. The gold standard for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis is microscopy of urine sample concentrated by filtration, sedimentation or centrifugation over a filter paper [23,29,42,43]. This method is reliable and specific enough to diagnose the infection in Ondo state.…”