Prevalence of Intestinal Parasites among Tuberculosis and Non-Tuberculosis Patients Attending Hospitals in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Tuberculosis and intestinal parasites are mostly affecting poor people. They are in a vicious cycle since one is the risk factor for the other. A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out on the prevalence and co-infection of intestinal parasites on tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis patients in Specialist Hospital, Jimeta and Federal Medical Centre, Yola, between April-July, 2021. Demographic data was collected using structured questionnaire, while stool samples was collected and processed using wet mount and formol ether concentration technique for the detection of intestinal parasites. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 26.0 software packages. Chi-squared test at 95% level of significance was used to measure the strength of an association. Out of the 250 participants, 150 (60%) had tuberculosis, while 100 (40%) were non-TB patients. A total of 34 (13.6%) were infected with intestinal parasites: 8.4% of TB patients and 5.2% of non-TB patients were positive for intestinal parasites. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of infection between the patient’s (p>0.05). Ascaris lumbricoides was the highest occurring parasite (4.4%), followed by Schistosoma mansoni and Entamoeba histolytica, both having a prevalence of 2.8% each, Hymenolepsis nana (2.0%), Trichomonas hominis (1.2%) and  Entamoeba coli being the least with a prevalence of 0.4%. Age related infection showed that the 21-30 year old had the highest prevalence of infection (4.0%) with the least among the 11-20 year old age group (0.4%). There was a statistically significant difference in the association between the age groups and infection (p<0.05). Males had the higher prevalence of infection (8.4%) compared to their female counterpart (5.2%), there was no statistically significant difference in the association between infection and gender (p>0.05). With respect to patient’s occupation and level of education, those with tertiary education and farmers had the highest prevalence (6.0%, 5.9%), respectively. The prevalence of intestinal parasites was higher in persons with tuberculosis, and there was evidence that tuberculosis increased susceptibility to intestinal parasites in this study. Though the prevalence in this study is low, the lack of knowledge of the mode of transmission of these parasite can lead to further infection of both those already infected and those not infected.