Seasonality of Neglected Tropical Geohelminthes and Asymptomatic P.falciparum Malaria Prevalence Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at NandiHills Subcounty Hospital Kenya
Seasonality of Neglected Tropical Geohelminthes and Asymptomatic P.falciparum Malaria Prevalence Among Pregnant Women Attending Antenatal Care at NandiHills Subcounty Hospital Kenya
Rael Jepkogei Masai
ABSTRACT
The large-scale geographical distributions of malaria and helminths are determined largely by climate, which determines mosquito and helminth free-living stage survival. The study was carried out in Nandi Hills Sub-County Hospital in Nandi County and data was collected from 300 pregnant study participants. The study period was stratified into wet season and dry season. Consenting participants provided stool samples that were processed by formal-ether concentration techniques and results recorded as either positive or negative. Capillary blood samples was collected for slide preparations and subjected to microscopy to determine presence of P.falciparum. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on study subjects’ area of residence. Results were processed using SSPS and significance levels were obtained using chi square and logistic regression. Most respondents (200 (66.7%) visited the hospital during dry season and only 33.3% visited during the rainy season. Infection prevalence of geohelminths was A. lumbricoides, A. duodenale and T. trichiura, 40% (p<.05), 25% (p<.05), and 1% infection prevalence were detected respectively during the wet season, and 24.5%, 10.5% and 1% respectively during the dry season, 16% of P.falciparum (p<.05) were infections during the wet season, representing 5.3% of P. falciparum infection among all the study participants and only 4% during the dry season, representing 2.3% of P. falciparum infection among all the study participants. Given the changing precipitation patterns as a result of climate change, this study can inform the policy makers on best ways of designing prevention and control measures of the parasites.
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