Urinary schistosomiasis: Knowledge, attitude and practices among rural children in Sokoto

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Medical Microbiology, School of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria

2 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Schistosomiasis is one of the most common neglected tropical diseases, especially in the developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America, with Nigeria having the greatest number of cases of schistosomiasis worldwide. The aim of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practices of urinary schistosomiasis among rural children in Sokoto. Methods: Urine sample from 335 school children were collected and examined for Schistosoma haematobium eggs after administering questionnaire to obtained demographic, socioeconomic as well as urinary schistosomiasis KAP data. Results: About 43.6% of the participants had prior knowledge of urinary schistosomiasis with 45.4% of them knew how it is transmitted, and 22.1% of the respondents considered urinary schistosomiasis a serious disease while 44.2% have no idea about the preventive measures. More than half (56.1%) of the respondents indicated previous contact with water bodies and about half (48.1%) of them uses river as the source of water. Although 70.1% of all the respondents admitted to possessing toilet facilities at their households (mostly pit) and 29.9% that admitted to not having toilet facilities. The infection rate was 19.7%. Conclusion: Our results indicate that participants’ knowledge about the cause, transmission, symptoms and prevention of urinary schistosomiasis was insufficient and this could be a challenging factor to the elimination of urinary schistosomiasis from this population.

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Main Subjects

Microbes and Infectious Diseases

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 28 August 2024

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