Schistosomiasis and Associated Risk Factors Among School-Aged Children in Northern Nigeria

Background: The Jigawa State Ministry of Health in Northern Nigeria undertook a pilot intervention to control schistosomiasis through preventive chemotherapy by ensuring that each child swallows praziquantel once annually from 2009 to 2013 in five primary schools in Dutse metropolis. Previously, the overall prevalence for urinary and intestinal schistosomiasis determined using sedimentation and Kato-Katz methods was 22.9%. The objective of this study is to follow-up on this pilot effort. Methods: A cross sectional study involving 150 randomly selected pupils, aged 6 - 15 years old was conducted using sedimentation and Kato-Katz methods to determine the prevalence of urinary and intestinal schistosomiasis respectively in three schools in July, 2018. Information on demographic and associated risk factors was collected using a structured questionnaire and the data generated were analyzed using SPSS statistics version 18.0. Results: The overall prevalence was 10.00% with S. haematobium 8.00%, S. mansoni 2.67% and co-infection 0.67%. Males had higher prevalence (15.10%) than females (1.75%). The 11 - 15 years age group had higher prevalence, (10.10%) than 6 - 10 years, (9.68%). Nearly all the infections occurred among class 4-6 pupils with 12.10% and 2.94% in class 1-3. Based on parental occupations, children of unskilled laborers had the highest prevalence of 16.67% followed by children of civil servants (12.50%), and children of butchers (0%). Kachi School had the highest prevalence of 14.00% while Sir Muhammadu Sunusi had the lowest (4.00%). Schistosomiasis prevalence was found only to be significantly associated with gender; higher among males than females (15.10% vs 1.75%, p = 0.011). Conclusion and Implications for Translation: Schistosomiasis is still endemic among school-aged children in Dutse metropolis, but with a drop in overall prevalence from 22.9% to 10.00%. Chemotherapy and health education should be sustained on both schooled and unschooled children in order to control the transmission.