Abstract

Objective: To determine the spatial distribution of soil-transmitted helminthiases (STHs) and level of infection in relation to epidemiological factors, and to determine co-infection with schistosomiasis among school-aged children in Gashaka Local Area, Taraba State, North East, Nigeria. Methods: Both urine and faecal samples were collected from school-aged children from January–June 2014. The samples were processed using standard filtration and formol-ether concentration techniques for urine and stools respectively. Remotely sensed images were processed using earth resource data analysis system 9.1 and ArcGis 9.2 softwares. Results: A point prevalence of 11.0% (119/1 080) was reported out of 1 080 children examined. Hookworm infection had the highest infection (5.4%, 59/1 080) followed by ascariasis (3.8%, 41/1 080) and trichuriasis (1.7%, 19/1 080). The spatial distribution of the individual helminths infection showed hookworm infection to be higher in Mayo-selbe (23.8%, 43/180), Gashaka (21.6%, 39/180) and Serti A (12.7%, 23/180) (χ2 = 52.58, P = 0.000). Ascariasis was higher in Serti A (6.7%, 12/180) and Gashaka (6.1%, 11/180) (χ2 = 54.15, P = 0.000), while trichuriasis was higher in Mayo-Selbe (7.2%, 13/180) (χ2 = 54.15, P = 0.000) than the other localities. Considering the overall STHs, localities such as Gashaka (30.0%, 54/180), Mayo-Selbe (23.8%, 43/180) and Serti A (19.4%, 35/180) were significantly infected than other localities (χ2 = 93.68, P = 0.000). The logistic regression model showed that low altitude (< 716 m) was significantly associated (odds ratio = 2.676, confidence interval = 1.981–3.615; P = 0.000) with STHs. Conclusions: Though hookworm infection remains an important public health problem in the area, its infection levels varied between children’s locations. The spatial distribution maps in this study are important and useful for planning, evaluating and implementing adequate control programmes for STHs among school-aged children.

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