Intestinal Helminthic Infection in Numan (Northeast Nigeria)

Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: Intestinal helminthes are the most common diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa with a very higher negative public health and socio-economic impacts. Mass drug administration is one programme aimed at controlling the disease. The exercise has not been successful in Nigeria due to low levels of living standards, poor environmental sanitation, and ignorance of simple health-promoting behaviours. Due to negative impacts of helmithiasis, there is therefore the need for good preventive and control measures. This can not be done effectively without a baseline data on the occurrence of helminthiasis in a particular area. A study of prevalence of intestinal helminthes infections among inhabitants of five villages in Numan local Government area Adamawa, Nigeria was carried out using formal-ether concentration method. Out of the 296 subjects examined, 27(9.1%) were found to be infected with at least one helminth. The prevalence of intestinal helminthes found were Taenia spp (3.7%), Hookworm (3.4%), and Ascaris lumbricoides (2.0%). There was no significant association between helminthic infection and sex (P>0.05). There was no significant association between prevalence and age (P>0.05). Teania spp had the highest prevalence among subjects examined. Prevalence and co- infection was highest in Salt