The Prevalenceprevalence of Intestinal Parasites in Secregion of Cameroon Prevalence of Intestinal Parasites in Secondary School Students in Kumbo, North West Region of Cameroon.

Intestinal parasitic infection remains a major public health concern particularly in low and middle income countries where inadequate sanitation, poor hygiene practices, limited access to safe drinking water, poverty facilitate transmission. In Cameroon, these infections continue to be reported in many communities despite ongoing control measures. Secondary school students are among the vulnerable groups because they are frequently exposed to contaminated food, water, and soil. Determining the prevalence of this infection will provide valuable evidence on the magnitude of the problem and identify the need for appropriate public health interventions. To establish the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infestation among
secondary school students in Kumbo Bui Division, North West Region of Cameroon, 727 stool samples were examined microscopically in the Catholic School of Health Sciences Shisong Laboratory involving six different secondary schools. During health education, knowledge on basic hygiene and san itation was assessed among the students and clarifications made on the questions posed. It was a prospective cross sectional community and laboratory based study from the 29th of November, 2010 to March 10th, 2011. Stool samples were analyzed using both th e wet (saline, iodine) mount and the formol ether concentration techniques and the later proved to be more efficient as it gave 60% as opposed to 40% wet mount of the total intestinal parasitic
prevalence. The general prevalence of intestinal parasite was 30.4% that is, 221 students out of the 727 students had intestinal parasites implying one third of the population were harboring intestinal parasites with 40% prevalence of mixed infections. Nine different intestinal parasites were identified with Entamoeb a coli having the highest prevalence of 45.4% and Taenia species had the least prevalence of 0.26% and SAC had the least prevalence of 2.61%. Female had a higher prevalence of 23.25% compared to 7.15% in males. Junior classes had higher prevalence
compared to senior classes. Intestinal parasites remain a call for concern in Kumbo municipality. The high prevalence was linked to poor hygiene and low level of education among these students, domestic animal rearing (though to a lesser extend) which serves as re servoirs for some of these parasites especially helminths.