Effectiveness Of Albendazole On Soil Transmitted Nematodes Among School ChildrenA Case Of Kakamega County, Kenya

Abstract

Recent assessment by WHO on Soil Transmitted Nematodes (STN) point that their morbidity is still high in people mainly in children. A. lumbricoidesglobally infects 1.2 billion people and T. trichiura795 million worldwide. Infections withAncylostoma duodenaleand Necator americanus 740 million leading to 135,000 deaths per year. It became necessary to find out the effectiveness of Albendazoleonsoil transmittedNematodesamong school children- a case of kakamega county, kenya.METHODOLOGYStudy respondents were selected fom public primary school children in Kakamega County. A total of 731 and 665 (pre & post) children in 7 primary schools in three sub counties of Kakamega County were recruited in the study. Pre-treatment survey was done in March, 2014 and follow up in September 2014. Fecal samples were examined for the presence of STN . 14 days after treatment using Kato- Katz method.The total number of eggs were expressed as eggs/gm of feaces (epg). Pretreatment prevalence was 43.5% for Ascaris lumbricoides, 1.8% for hookworm and 0.9% for Trichuris trichiura. R ESU LTSMean intensity of hookworm, A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura infections in the pre-and post-surveys were reduced by 1.2%, 98.4% and 100% respectively. Prevalence decreased to 2.3% for Ascaris lumbricoides and 0 % for T. trichiura. Post treatment prevalence of A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura infections were significantly reduced by 94.8% and 100% respectively. A slight increase in hookworm prevalence was observed. However, this increase was not significant (p=0.993). CONCLUSIONThe therapeutic efficacy of Albendazole indicated a good reduction in parasite burden. Albendazole satisfactorily reduced STN infection while for hookworm there was a non-significant increase in prevalence. Key words: Cure rate, egg reduction rate, albendazole, Kenya