Investigation of Abiotic Causative Agents of Intestinal Parasitic Infection of School Age Children (6 - 11 Years) in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State

Intestinal parasitic infections are a public health problem for children in rural and urban areas of low-income and middle-income households. Two primary schools were selected from20 districts in a LGA and a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 26 pupils comprising of equal numbers of male and female in classes 1 - 6. Questionnaires and sterilized bottle specimen (5 cm3) for stool collection were given out to 1,040 pupils and only 840 respondent specimens were collected and analyzed. Participants were interviewed about sources and use of water and frequency of meal pattern over a seven day period. Stools collected from the respondents were microscopically examined simultaneously as fresh wet mounts using Kato Katz thick smear and smear from formol-saline concentration techniques. The water samples collected from different sources (well, stream, earth dam, borehole, river and tap) for use within the study area was analyzed following the WHO standard method for sampling water techniques for the presence of microorganisms. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites abundant in the districts varied significantly (X2 = 2.15; P< 0.000). Frequency and percentage analyses of the meal pattern for the school children showed that more number of school children consumed cereal and cereal products food between 4 – 6 times in a week, while the consumption of milk and milk products, meat, fish and eggs were evenly spread within the week. (23.45 and 39.29%, respectively). More number of school children occasionally consumed nuts and legumes and fruits with frequencies range of 47.74 and 53.455, respectively. There was preponderant consumption of vegetables by the school children within the seven day meal pattern recall. The use of well water was found to be a major source of contraction of intestinal parasitic infection as this was statistically significant (X2= 44.18; P< 0.05) when compared to earth dam, borehole, stream and rivers. All the water sources contained different levels of both bacteria and fungi species of intestinal parasites. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the Kaduna State Government should make her presence felt more in Chikun local Government Area by the provisions of portable drinking water, embark on de-worming programme for the school age children. There is the need for the Local Health Authority to give regular health talk to residents and visits to inspect households, environments for proper hygiene and disinfect dug wells periodically.