Evaluation of Onchocerciasis among community members of Okigwe Local Government Area, Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Human infection with Onchocerca volvulus study was conducted to compare the prevalence of different manifestations of onchocerciasis according to gender and age, with view to determine if there had been a change in prevalence of onchocerciasis among residents of some communities in Okigwe Local Government Area of Imo State. A cross sectional survey method was adopted for the study. Skin snips were collected from randomly selected consenting adults aged 18-62 years. Palpation for mobile subcutaneous lumps and clinical manifestation were carried out on 960 persons comprising of 511 males and 449 females. The commonest symptoms observed were poor vision (8%), nodules (7%), leopard skin (9%), lizard skin (7%), and hanging groin (1%). Musculo-skeletal pain (MSP) was recorded as one of the major complaints by (14%) of the subjects. This result indicates (69.8%) reduction on clinical features of onchocerciasis prevalence among sampled population in the study-area.

Keywords: onchocerciasis, manifestation, prevalence, palpation