High intestinal parasitic diseases among Fulani pastoralists in rivers state, South-South Nigeria

This study was conducted to establish the prevalence of intestinal parasites among Fulani Pastoralists in six bush encampments in Rivers State, South-South Nigeria. Standard parasitological procedures as recommended by World Health Organization were employed in sample collection and examination. An overall prevalence of 91.2% was observed among the 593 stool samples examined with one or more of the intestinal parasites. Intestinal parasite rate by bush encampments showed that Fulani Pastoralists in Elelenwo and Eleme were the most infected with 109(94.8%) and 104(92.9%) prevalence respectively. The males showed a higher prevalence of intestinal parasites infections 347 (94.0%) than the females 194 (86.6%). However, this is not statistically significant (p<0.05). Age group 21-30 years had the highest prevalence of 95.0% followed by 11-20 (94.8%) and 31-40 (92.7%). About 90% of all the infected individuals are in the first to four decades of life. Also, 100% infection rate was observed among the age bracket 11-20years in Eleme bush encampment and 21-30 years in Elelenwo bush encampments. The difference in the rate of infection with respect to age was not statistically significant. Eleven parasitic intestinal diseases of which hookworm had the highest prevalence 450 (75.9%) was observed. Hookworm was highly significant from all the intestinal parasites (p<0.05) identified in this study. Polyparasitim of A. lumbricoides + Hookworm in the Population was 58(10.7%); Hookworm + T. trichuris 13(5.4%), Hookworm + E. histolytica 31(5.7%), A. lumbricoides + Hookworm + Trichuris 13(2.4%). The study has documented a very high prevalence of intestinal diseases among the Fulani pastoralists examined. There is a great need to monitor and control infection; otherwise they will remain a permanent source of health hazard for all intestinal diseases.