Epidemiology and control of Schistosomiasis and other intestinal parasitic infections among school children in three rural villages of south Saint Lucia.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of parasitic infections and the efficacy of treatment among school children in rural villages of south Saint Lucia. METHOD: A total of 554 school children participated in this study. Parasitic infections were confirmed by using Kato- Katz method. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: Overall, 61.6% of the school children were infected by any parasitic infection. The helminths identified were Ascaris lumbricoides (15.7%), Hookworm (11.9%), Strongyloides (9.7%), Trichuris trichiura (4.7%), Schistosoma mansoni (0.6%), Taenia solium (0.8%) and Enterobius vermicularis (2.1%), Entamoeba coli (9.7%), Iodameba butschlii (5%), Entamoeba histolytica (1.1%), Giardia lamblia (1.8%) and Endolimax nana (2.1%). The control intervention included treatment with albendazole 400 mg and praziquantel 40 mg/kg as well as awareness campaigns. Post-interventional assessment showed the total prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection reduced from 61.6 to 3.6% with a cure rate of 94.2%, following the control methods.