Prevalence and Risk Factors of Intestinal Helminthinthiasis among Primary School Children in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of River State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT
Background: Intestinal helminthic infections continue to pose a significant global health burden,
particularly in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Thus, the prevalence and the risk factors intestinal
helminth infections was investigated among primary schools children in Obio-Akpor, Rivers State,
Nigeria.
Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional study of three hundred and sixty children, selected
using a multistage sampling method. Their stool samples were collected and examined for helminth
eggs using Kato- Katz technique and analyzed at the Department of the Medical Microbiology
laboratory, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. Data was analyzed using Statistical
Software for Social Sciences version 17.0 (Chicago IL, USA).and a p- value of 0.05 was regarded as
statistically significant.
Results: Their ages ranged from 5-12 years (mean age of 8.95±1.96 years)and most 229 (62.4%)
were female. Twenty of the 367 (5.4%) children were infested with helminths. Three of the
161(1.9%) children resident in an urban community compared to 17 of 206 (8.3%) living in a rural
community were infested with intestinal helminths and this was statistically significant(χ2= 7.159;
p= 0.007). Multivariate analysis showed that children drinking from wells and streams were ten
times at risk of being infected with intestinal helminths.(β=2.320, 95% C I=2.02 to 51.20, p=0.005).

Conclusion: Children who drank from wells and streams were at ten times greater risk of intestinal
helminths. Therefore, access to improved water sources and improved personal hygiene should be
the main goal in reducing the burden of helminthic infestation.
KEYWORDS: Helminthic infestation, prevalence, risk factor and primary school children