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INTESTINAL HELMINTHIASIS IN CHILDREN WITH CHRONIC NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS SEEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN TEACHING HOSPITAL, BENIN CITY
Abstract
It is envisaged that the care of the child with chronic neurological disorder (CND) compared with his apparently healthy counter-part may be sub-optimal, predisposing him to increased morbidities including increased prevalence of intestinal helminthiasis. To evaluate this hypothesis, a comparative cross sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence, intensity, and specie-specific prevalence of intestinal helminthiasis in healthy children aged 2 – 17 years and children with CND such as cerebral palsy (CP), epilepsy, and mental retardation (MR) seen at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City between November 2008 and April 2009. Fresh stool samples from 155 children with CND and from 155 age and sex matched apparently healthy nursery and primary school children in Egor LGA, Edo State) were analysed using the Kato-Katz (K-K) technique for the detection of ova of helminths. The prevalence of intestinal helminthiasis (31.0%) was significantly higher in children with CND (p = 0.03) compared with 19.4% found among the apparently healthy controls. This prevalence increases with increasing age in both subjects and controls. Intensity of infections in both groups was light. Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and Ancylostoma duedenale were the intestinal helminths isolated; and A. lumbricoides alone had the highest specie-specific prevalence of 20.0% among the subjects and 15.5% among the controls (p = 0.37). Mixed infection was found only among the children with CND. Encopresis was the behavioural aberration significantly associated with intestinal helminthiasis (p < 0.000) in subjects. With one in every three children with CND having intestinal helminthiasis, it is recommended that regular de-worming exercise be incorporated into the routine care of children with CND in neurology clinic.
