Prevalence of intestinal helminthiases and associated factors Among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of nigist eleni Mohammed memorial hospital, hossana, southern ethiopia

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.