Comparative Study of the Incidence of Co-infection of Soil-transmitted Helminths and Helicobacter pylori among Children and Women of Reproductive Age Living in Slum Settlements in Rivers State, Nigeria

Background: Soil-transmitted parasites, bacterial and other biological contaminants constitute the major causes of food-borne diseases often transmitted through food and water borne routes contaminated with faeces in developing countries. Children and Women of reproductive age (WRA) have high of getting infected and being potential sources of pathogenic micro-organisms.

Objective: This study was aimed to assess and compare the prevalence and risk factors of soil-transmitted helminths and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) among school-aged children and women of reproductive age at selected area in Eleme Local Government Area, Rivers State.

Methods: Cross-sectional study was conducted 580 participants were enrolled in May-August 2019. The gastrointestinal parasites were examined with wet mount and formol-ether concentration techniques. Chi-square (χ2) test was used to evaluate the association between categorical variables and infection prevalence using SPSS version 21, values were considered significant when the p-value was less than 0.05.

Results: The overall prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths among children was 12.3% (37/300) whereas WRA had 12.5% (35/280). Trichuris trichura was found to be prominent among the children with 18 (6.0%) while Ascaris lumbricoides 10 (3.6%) was most prevalent among WRA. Gender based Prevalence was 56.8% (21/37) and 43.2% (16/37%) for males and females respectively. The age-related prevalence is most common among age group 11-15 years. This prevalence was not statistically significant (p>0.05). H. pylori infection prevalence among the children and WRA were 11.7% (35/300) and 26.8% (75/280). The gender-related prevalence among the males had 18 (51.4%) and females 17 (48.6%) of the children group. The age group 1-5 years showed high prevalence of H. pylori than other groups. Among WRA, age group 23-27 and 33-37 years had equal prevalence of 20 (26.7%). In consideration of co-infection between children and WRA, A. lumbricoides coinfection H. pylori 15 (53.5%) was most prevalent among children while among women of reproductive age, hookworm co-infection H. pylori 8 (50.0%) was most prevalent. Risk factors that were statistically significant (p<0.05) were among those who wash hands with soap after playing/touching soil and those dewormed in the last three months.

Conclusion: The distribution of soil-transmitted helminth infections co-infection H. pylori among children and WRA is low, however strategic planning of treatment regimen of community based should be encouraged.