Prevalence of Intestinal Parasitic Infection Among School Children of Bajawar, Pakistan

Introduction: Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are caused by protozoan and helminths and are among the most widespread infection in poor populations. The current study aimed to investigate factors affecting the prevalence IPI among children going to school at the primary level in District Bajaur. Methods: After obtaining official approval from the school administration, a formal consent questionnaire was filled out by the selected children based on age, education level, and parents’ income. A total of 687 fecal samples were collected from August 2019 to December 2019 in seven subdivisions of Bajaur and were examined through normal saline and Lugol’s iodine solutions (direct smear method). Results: The prevalence of infection was noticed in 58.5% (n=402/687) of samples, in which the highest prevalent parasite was Ascaris lumbricoides (39.8%, n=160/402), followed by Taenia saginata (18.1%, n=73/402), Entamoeba histolytica (15.4%, n=62/402), Enterobius vermicularis (8.70%, n=35/402), Giardia lamblia (7.46%, n=30/402), and Trichuris trichiura (5.47%, n=22/402). On the other hand, the lowest prevalence rate was noted for Hymenolepis nana in only 7 samples, including 2 cases (28.57%) in males and 5 cases (71.43%) in females, respectively. The students of grade 5 were more adapted to hand washing (90.9%), while the lowest rate of hand washing was observed in kindergarten and 1st class children (P>0.05). The children of the low classes were found to eat raw food materials more than those of the high classes (P>0.05). The same case was also detected for water sources (P>0.05), while the children of the 1st and 2nd classes were found more associated with pet animals than the other students (P>0.05). Mon parasitism and polyparasitism were observed at 76.6% (n=308/402) and 4.95% (n=20/402), respectively. Conclusion: The current study calls for the control of IPI among children of the study region as polyparasitism as an alarming reason.