Abstract

A comparative study on infection with intestinal helminths among pupils in rural and sub-urban primary schools was carried out in Gwagwada district, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Faecal samples were collected from 244 pupils in eight rural and sub-urban public schools and examined for eggs of intestinal helminths using the filtration technique and microscopically examined for intestinal parasites. The overall prevalence in both rural and sub-urban pupils was 67.2%, with the sub-urban pupils having a prevalence of 70.8% and the rural pupils a 58.9% prevalence. The five intestinal helminths observed in the study were Ascaris lumbricoides (37.0 and 29.8%), Trichuris trichiura (4.1 and 4.7%), hookworms (9.6 and 5.3%), Taenia species (32.9 and 11.1%) and Schistosoma mansoni (21.9 and 1.8%) in rural and sub-urban pupils, respectively. There was no significant association of the prevalence with location. Mass deworming campaign should be embarked upon immediately and sanitation facilities should be provided to curtail these alarming infections.

Key words: Helminths, rural, sub-urban, pupils, Gwagwada, Nigeria.