PREVALENCE, CLINICAL MANIFESTATION AND ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE, PERCEPTION AND PRACTICES OF LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS IN PAIKORO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NIGER STATE
- Project Research
- 1-5 Chapters
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- Reference Style: APA
- Recommended for : Student Researchers
- NGN 5000
ABSTRACT
There are ongoing current efforts of mass drug administration for the interruption of lymphatic filariasis (LF) in Nigeria but the disease is still one of the major disabling filarial diseases of public health significance. Unupdated possible data on the transmission of LF informed this study to elucidate the prevalence of Wuchereria bancrofti infection in Paikoro Local Government, Niger State. Immunochromatographic card test (ICT) for detecting circulating filarial antigen (CFA) using whole blood and overt clinical manifestations (Lymphoedema and hydrocoele) were used as diagnostic tools. The demographic characteristics as well as knowledge and perception of participants were determined using structured questionnaire, out of the 1015 randomly selected subjects aged >5years an overall prevalence of 24.33% was established, there was a trend of higher prevalence in males (13.11%) than females (11.22%). Wuchereria bancrofti prevalence varies significantly (p<0.05) among the age group examined while the highest prevalence was recorded among age group of 16-25 (8.6%) the lowest prevalence was recorded among age group of 56—65years . Participants were aware of the symptoms such as itching, pain, and chill and majority of the respondents acknowledged that the disease is transmitted through mosquito bite and controlled by sleeping under mosquito net. 37.7% of participants were informed by past experience with Lymphatic filariasis, Community health workers, Mass media and Hospitals. On the other hand, the infection varied significantly (p<0.05) with respect to marital status and occupational characteristics of the participants in the communities. The results indicated that W. bancrofti infection is widely spread in Paikoro Local Government and it is a major health issue, this calls for urgent need for mass drug administration, mass sensitization, sustained intervention program towards the people in the study area.
