Authors

CA Ologunde¹;  ¹ The Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

Discussion

Introduction: Malaria, typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis, AIDS and hepatitis B virus disease are major public health problems in the tropical and subtropical countries; they exert a huge burden of morbidity, mortality and economic loss on the populace.

Aims: The study investigates the prevalence of co –infection of malaria, typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis, hepatitis B virus and HIV virus among 306 students between the ages of 10- 21 years in three local government areas of Ekiti – state Nigeria.

Methodology: Blood samples were collected for the examination of malaria parasites, typhoid fever, hepatitis B virus and HIV virus while urine examination was done for urinary schistosomiasis.

Results: The results show that the overall prevalence of malaria, typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis and hepatitis B virus were 42.2%, 2.9%, 2.9% and 2.9% respectively. The female students had the highest prevalence of single infection with malaria fever having the highest figure (42.2%). Malaria and Urinary schistosomiasis had the highest prevalence of double infection of 2.3 %, while schistosomiasis and hepatitis B had the lowest prevalence of 0.3%. Also, male students had the highest prevalence of double and triple infections. The co-infection rate of malaria, urinary Schistosomiasis and hepatitis B was 0.3% and this occurred in male between the ages of 19-21 years, none of the students tested positive for HIV virus and therefore no students was found in the quaternaries.

Conclusion: The rate of co-infections in this study could be due to lack of potable water, poor hygiene, consumption of contaminated food, lack of aesthetic sense and lack of public health knowledge of the students, therefore there should be consistent sensitization programs on public health to enlighten the people about malaria, schistosomiasis, typhoid fever, hepatitis B and AIDS in order to completely minimize the spread of these diseases.