Prevalence of oesophagostomiasis in Primary School Children at Oke Ode, Central Nigeria

Abstract

The prevalence of human oesophagostomiasis was studied in Oke Ode, a fairly large community in Derived Savanna area of central Nigeria in the late dry season in 2005. Based on microscopic detection of characteristic infective larvae from single coprocultures from 384 randomly selected school children, the prevalence of infection was 5.5%. The infection was gender-related, with males being more often infected than females (7.4% vs 3.6%). Similarly, the infection was age-dependent, the age group 10-14 years had a higher infection rate than 5-9 years old (7.3 vs 4.7%). It was concluded that endemic oesophagostomiasis was by no means restricted to Togo and Ghana as hitherto thought but also occurs in Nigeria too. Although so far associated with dry conditions of Sudan Savanna, this study demonstrated that infection can also thrive in the humid conditions of the Derived Savanna, at least in Oke Ode area of central Nigeria.

Keywords: infective larvae, coprocultures, dry season, gender related, oesophagostomiasis

Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 32 [1] March 2011, pp.67-70