Schistosoma haematobium Infections among school children in Keffi Town, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Using cleaned, autoclaved wide mouthed universal bottles and-instructed, by demonstration on how to provide urine for the study; 20mls of clean early morning mid-stream catch urine samples were collected from 200 pupils in Keffi Town. With the assistance of their Teachers, pupils' basicepidemiological information was obtained through constructed questionnaires. The specimens were ■ labelled, parked appropriately and taken to the laboratory for analysis. Using a reagent strip and the manufacturer’s colour chart, the amount ol blood in the urine was estimated. The sedimentation method was used and the sediment transferred onto clean grease free glass slide, and examined microscopically. Of the 200 samples (90 males and 102 females), 01(30.5%) were infected-with Schistosoma haematobium, in which males had, a prevalence of 15.0% compared to 15.5% among females. The' statistical analysis revealed that there was no significant difference (P<0.05) in Schistosoma haematobium infoclion among males and females. The prevalence of Schistosoma , haematobium infection among school children in relation to 3ge showed that ages 11-13 years had the highest rate (40.98%). The statistical analysis also revealed a significant difference (P>0.05) in Schistosoma haematobium infection among the 4 schools in the study area. There was also a strong association between the prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium and haemaluria among the pupils.