Global Journal of Biology, Agriculture & Health Sciences

Abstract

Helminth burden among school going children of southern Bengal, India: A survey report

Avik Kumar Mukherjee, Punam Chowdhury, Koushik Das, Dibyendu Raj, Sumallya Karmakar & Sandipan Ganguly

Soil Transmitted Helminths (STHs) are often neglected in developing nations like India although they have immense public health importance. It is thought to be one of the major barriers for countries development. The study was conducted to generate an idea about the presence of common helminths infection among the school going children (10-15 years). The gangetic plains of West Bengal characterised by humid climate with ample rainfall and moist soil texture was chosen as our study site. Stool samples were collected from the children and helminth burden was estimated using a WHO guided Katokatz protocol. About 16% of 1192 enrolled children were found to be positive for any STHs infection. Along with high percentage of Ascaris, other major helminths like Schistosoma, Trichuris, etc were also found. The overall rate of infection and egg load per gram was found to be mild to low in context to the demography of the study region but presence of Schistosoma made a greater public health concern.

Published Date: 2013-06-25;