Asymptomatic Intestinal Parasites in School Children at Ota, Ogun State

A total of 394 stool samples was examined from apparently healthy school children in 2 primary schools (public and private) within the age group 2-16 years at Ota, Ogun state, Nigeria between March and August, 2007 in order to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection in these asymptomatic school children. One hundred and sixty-four (41.6%) of these pupils harboured various species of intestinal parasites, there was mixed infections in twenty one pupils which gave total intestinal parasites as 46.9%. Giardia lamblia (11.92%) and Entamoeba histolytica (10.15%) were found to be more prevalent, while the least prevalent organisms were Trichuris trichiuria (1.01%) and Strongyloides stercoralis (1.01%). The prevalence of asymptomatic intestinal parasites was significantly higher in children attending the public school (P = 0.0028; P < 0.05) than those attending the private school. There was no significant difference between the socio-economic status of the parents and the rate of infection of their children (P = 0.08; P > 0.05). This study thus advocates routine periodic screening even of the healthy pupils for intestinal parasitosis to minimize morbidity and mortality and improve infrastructure in our school especially the public ones.