The prevalence of intestinal nematodes and socio-economic implications: A case study among the pupils of Muslim public primary school Ilese-Ijebu Ogun state Southwestern Nigeria

A survey of the prevalence of Intestinal Nematodes and the implications of socio-economic status was carried out among Muslim Primary School pupils aged 5 - 13 years in 2012. A focus group discussions method was used to extract information on the type of residences the pupils reside in and sanitary facilities they use and the Faecal matter samples were collected from 240 pupils, processed using wet and iodine preparation for isolation of nematodes. Then results were combined using coefficient of determination R² Microsoft excels to determine the factors responsible for the infections. The results showed that 40% of the school pupils examined had one or more helminthes. The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was (36.7%), Hookworm (2.9%) and strongyloides (0.4%).The prevalence of intestinal nematode infection was higher in female pupils (21.7%) than in male pupils (18.3%). On the other hand, the results of correlation analysis showed strong positive correlation coefficient between the prevalence of the nematodes and poor hygiene practices (0.897), while 0.535 coefficients recorded for the prevalence and sanitary facilities the pupils used. The study concludes that The prevalence is as results of eating habits hygiene practice and environmental factors.The result of this study showed that parasitic infection is still existing among school pupils in rural parts of Nigeria and the situation can be reduced by educating the pupils and parents and provision of adequate sanitary and hand washing facilities in all the schools.