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 Studies on Schistosoma haematobium... ( Cont.. 5)

OBSERVATION AND RESULTS

4.1    Relationship between prevalence of infection with S. haematobium and sex of pupils.

Two primary schools namely: Local Area primary school (LAPS) Sabo and C.A.C Oke Anu primary school (CACPS) Akarabata Modakeke were surveyed for S. haematobium infection .Of 99 pupils examined, 30(30.3%) excreted eggs of S. haematobium in their urine (Plates 1, 2 and 3). Seventeen (33.3%) of the 51 boys and 13(27.1%) of the 48 girls examined were infected (Appendix IV).

The prevalence of infection by sex in the two areas is shown in Table 1.Of 48 pupils of L.A primary school examined, 12(25.0%) were positive for S. haematobium ova in their urine while 18(35.3%) of the 51 pupils of C.A.C primary school examined were positive for ova. This apparent difference in the rates of infection in the two study areas is conversely not statistically significant (p>0.05). Comparing both sexes, the disparity in prevalence of infection is also not statistically significant (p>0.05).

Table 1

4.2  Relationship between intensity of infection with S. haematobium and sex of pupils.

Table 2 shows the intensity of infection based on mean egg count per 10ml of urine of pupils in the two study areas. Pupils of both primary schools that were infected suffered from low intensity of infection (11.0 eggs/10ml urine). However there is no significant difference between the mean intensities of infection in the two study areas (P>0.05). The mean intensity of infection in male pupils (14.2 eggs/10ml urine) is significantly higher (p<0.05) than in female pupils (6.7 eggs/10ml urine).

Table 2

Table 3

4.3    Variation of prevalence and intensity of infection with age.

Table 3 shows the prevalence and intensity of infection expressed as mean egg count per 10ml among different age groups. The infection rate was highest in those in age group 13 – 14 years (52.6%) followed by those in age group 11 – 12 years (39.4%). The highest intensity of infection was recorded also in the age group 13 – 14 years (14.6 eggs/10ml urine), while those in age group < 8 years had the lowest intensity of infection (1.0 eggs/10ml urine) and only one pupil within the age group was infected.

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