Prevalence of Cryptosporidium species and Giardia intestinalis among patients in a secondary health facility, Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Cryptosporidium species and Giardia intestinalis cause diarrheal infections in humans and other vertebrate animals globally and are considered to be of great public health importance. The study was conducted to determine the prevalence Cryptosporidium species and G. intestinalis infections among patients attending General Hospital Dutse, Jigawa State, Nigeria. Fresh stool specimens uncontaminated with urine were collected from a total of 120 randomly selected patients attending the hospital laboratory. The specimens were processed macroscopically and microscopically (by direct wet mount method, formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation and Ziel-Nelson staining method). The overall prevalence of G. intestinalis was 36% while Cryptosporidium species was 25%. There were no significant difference observed in Cryptosporidium species and G. intestinalis infection in relation to sex (p>0.05). Risk factors such as age-group, hand-washing practice before handling food, educational level, source of drinking water, frequency of contact with animal, and nature of human waste disposal were found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). There is need for public health education to be enhanced to discourage the adoption of risky practices. There is also a need for reliable diagnostic methods other than microscopy.

Keywords:  Cryptosporidium species; Giardia intestinalis; prevalence; infection, Dutse