Epidemiology and control of soil transmitted helminthiasis and giardiasis in Nigeria- a review

Abstract

Background: Nigeria is the country with the largest population in Africa. Helminthiasis and giardiasis are endemic in Nigeria, due to poor environmental sanitation, pollution, and contamination of water and soil. However, parasitic infections in Nigeria are not only due to the large number of its population, but also due to its geographic nature which is apt for easy parasitic development and individuals infected are children and they attributed this to the fact that children are very careless of the risk associated with playing in contaminated environments and eating indiscriminately with unwashed hands.

Objective: To review the epidemiology of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and giardiasis in Nigeria and feasible control measures.

Methodology: A wide-ranging search of electronic bibliographic databases was performed on the epidemiology and control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis and giardiasis in Nigeria. Twenty three full-length articles were studied comprehensively in order to gather up the information on epidemiology of giardiasis and STHs in Nigeria.

Result: the occurrence of STH due to the triad of Ascaris lumbricoides, Hookworm and Trichuris trichiura was observed. The paper also showed that the highest and lowest prevalences of helminthiasis are 89.66% and 9.1% while that of giardiasis are 41.45% and 3.10% respectively.

Conclusion: This suggests that soil-transmitted helminthiasis and giardiasis are still endemic in Nigeria and majority of those affected are children younger than 10 years living in rural areas and urban slums.