Abstract:
The continued treatment with Praziquantel (PZQ) since 2007, of school children without early detection of schistosomiasis do not significantly contribute to continued drop of prevalence. This pre-suggests continual surveys for the stubborn schistosomiasis prevalence and mapping of the high risk villages to inform continual planning of interventions or interruptions for the schistosomiasis transmission. The aim of this study was to explore the extent of the human mansoni schistosomiasis both at the community level and the individual in proximity of Lake Muhazi.
Methodology
This was a cross sectional study using quantitative methods. Both sexes above age five randomly selected from thirteen villages, in proximity of lake Muhazi, were tested for schistosoma ova using morphological methods after concentrating the stool with formol ether concentration techinique.
Results
Proportionally, according to each villages’ population, participants mounting to 384 provided their stool samples. Overall schistosomiasis infection across all villlages was 7.03% with village’s prevalence ranging from 0% to 23.33%. The difference of the S. mansoni prevalence, between all villages, statistically differ (at P= 0.002),Of the thirteen villages surveyed, the highest risk villages were five: Gasharu Kibara (23.33%), followed by Bwimiyange, Bwingeyo (16.13%), Karambo (10.71%) and Mugorore (9.09%) are the most affected villages since they are above the 5% as set by World Health Organization. Generally, there is low intensity of infection of 1-3 Schistosoma mansoni ova per preparation across most villages.
Conclusion and recommendations
The study revealed continued unacceptable high and persistent prevalence and relatively high intensity of schistosomiasis mansoni in the school aged children and adolescents. For the purpose of effective interruption of transmission, selective PZQ MDA should be extended to all levels of prevalence and all age groups and also complement PZQ to target immature stages of the adult worms.
