Abstract:
Background: In the developing world, young women, pregnant women, and their infants and
children frequently experience repeated helminthic infection, that lead to adverse health
consequences such as anemia and low birth weight. 44 million (35.5%) of pregnant women were
infected with hookworm in low income countries. About 10 million of pregnant women in
Africa are infected with schistosomiasis. Ethiopia is one of the high burden countries in Africa
for infection of soil transmitted helminthes. Since there is difference of distribution of helminths
infection within a country and in different geographic setup, the information on prevalence of
intestinal Helminthiases and also the associated risk factors especially in pregnant women in the
area is lacking.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of Intestinal helminthic infection among pregnant
women attending antenatal care clinic of Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial Hospital Hossana,
Southern Ethiopia, 2013.
Method and materials: A Hospital based cross sectional study design was employed. Two
hundred fifty eight pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Nigist Eleni Mohamed
Memorial Hospital during the study period (September to November 2013) were included in the
study. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data using interviewer administered technique
which is developed after reviewing related studies. For parasitological examination, formol ether
concentration technique was used to detect helminthes from clinical specimen. Data were
analyzed using SPSS for windows version 16.0. Statistical tests were performed at the level of
significance of 5%. Summary results, univariate and multivariate analysis was done to identify
the significant risk factors.
Result: Five species of intestinal helminths were identified in the stool samples, with the overall
prevalence of any helminths infection being 29.5% (76 out of total 258) .A. lumbricoides was the
predominant helminths infection, detected in 10.1% of pregnant women. There was a statistical
significant association between age, place of residence, income, occupation and unprotected
water source with the presence of intestinal helminthes. There is positive association between
presence of helminths infection and family size (AOR = 4.45; 95% CI = 1.98, 10.02, p=.001),
presence of water body in the vicinity of residence (AOR = 3.39; 95% CI = 1.20, 9.57, p=.021)
and habit of walking bare foot (AOR = 3.23; 95% CI = 1.28, 8.15, p=.013).
Conclusion: The present study showed a 29% prevalence of intestinal helminthes among
pregnant women in the study area. Stool exam should be routinely performed during antenatal
care follow-up. Public health measures should continue to emphasize the importance of
environmental and personal hygiene as well as provide and monitor the quality of drinking water
aiming to obtain a better quality of life.
