Prevalence of Concomitant Infection of Intestinal Helminthiasis with Malaria Parasitaemia in a typical Nigeria Suburban Areas.

Abstract

Helminthic infestation and malaria parasitaemia, separately or co- joined, can be present, in a host and still be asymptomatic. It is, therefore, crucial to assess the extent of co-infestation among individuals, particularly children who are most prone to parasitic infestations. Blood and Stool samples were collected from 557 pupils who were examined for intestinal helminths, malaria parasitaemia and anaemia. Formal acetate concentration method was used to analyse the stool specimens after which positive ones were further processed using Stolls method of counting helminths egg to determine the number of parasite per gram of stool. Thick film was used for malaria parasite test and malaria parasite density was calculated for the positive samples while anaemia was screened using cyanmethaemoglobin method. There were 235(42.2%) pupils co-infested with intestinal helminths and malaria parasitaemia Co-infestation of Ascaris lumbricoides and malaria parasitaemia 91(16.3%), and co-infection with hookworm and malaria parasitaemia 72(13.0%) had the highest prevalence. The percentage of pupils co-infested and anaemic were 130(23.3%) and is statistically significant (p > 0.05) across the communities. There was a negative correlation between haemoglobin concentrations (the indicator of anaemia), helminthic count with malaria parasite density count. This study revealed that intestinal helminths and malaria parasitaemia have a resurgence and concomitant infestation which constitutes a public menace. Co-infection increased the risk associated with anaemia and intensify the burden in Nigerian children.

Keywords: Co-infestation, malaria parasitaemia, intestinal helminthiasis, anaemia, pupils