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Prevalence Of Intestinal Worm Infections Among Primary School Children In Nairobi City, Kenya
Objective: The main objective of the study was to determine the
prevalence of total, single and multiple intestinal worm infections
among the primary school children in Nairobi City. Methods: A
cross-sectional descriptive study was used to determine the status of
intestinal worm infections whose subjects were drawn from eight city
administrative divisions. Proportional random sampling method to select
forty five (45) schools out of 320 public, private and non-formal
schools was used. Using the school enrolment register for standard 3
and 4, fifty (50) pupils per school were selected to participate in the
study. Quantitative data from the study subjects were collected by use
of a structured questionnaire. In addition, stool specimens were
collected from each study subject and examined by Kato-Katz laboratory
method. Results: The four intestinal worms investigated constituted a
total prevalence of 12.9%. This prevalence was found to be lower than
that in two other previous studies. A. lumbricoides had the highest
prevalence and S. mansoni had the lowest. Prevalence of single worm
infections constituted 8.6% of the total prevalence. Differences in
prevalence between males and females were observed only with respect to
T. trichiura and hookworm species. Fourteen to sixteen (14-16) and
11-13 years of age groups had the highest total prevalence of 47% and
30.6% respectively. Differences in prevalence were not found among the
school categories with exception of T. trichiura infections.
Conclusion: Prevalence of total, single and multiple infections showed
a downward trend when compared to the previous studies with Ascaris
lumbricoides persisting with the highest prevalence