Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

ANALYSIS OF IMPACTS OF SOIL PARAMETERS IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF GEO-HELMINTH EGGS IN PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND SOILS IN BWARI AREA COUNCIL, ABUJA, FCT

Abstract

Helminth infestation has remain a public health problem in the tropics and subtropics and soil parameters plays a vital role in the development of soil-transmitted helminth. This study aims at determining the impacts of soil parameters in the distribution of the geo-helminth eggs in pre-primary and primary school play-grounds in Bwari Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria. In this study, twenty schools were randomly selected from ten wards comprising of 10 each of private and public owned pre/primary schools. 50 grams of soil were collected from the randomly selected playgrounds and were analysed. Sedimentation techniques were used to recover helminth eggs and soil analysis were carried out to detect the soil parameters and other mineral contents of the soil. Out of 400 soil samples that were analyzed, 4876 helminth eggs were recovered of which 239(59.8%) were positive for helminth eggs. The soil parameters observed with their appropriate Pvalues were PH (0.010), sand (0.38), silt (0.696), clay (0.063), Nitrogen (0.0107), calcium (0.385), organic carbon (0.042), sodium (0.520) respectively, significant at P>0.05. Analysis of the occurrence of helminth eggs and soil parameters shows that the association was not significant (χ2 = 4.415, P-value = 0.1100). There was a significant association between Nitrogen and strongyloide eggs (p = 0.0316), there was a significant association between nitrogen S. haematobium eggs (P = 0.353), there was a significant association between soil pH and Stronyloides (P = 0.0130), and there was a significant association between strongyloides eggs and sodium. There was also a significant association between schistosome eggs and organic carbon (P =0.0326).  There was a significant association between helminth eggs from the schools and pH (0.010), there was a significant association between helminth eggs from the schools and organic carbon. There was also a significant association between helminth eggs and sand (0.038). The higher the soil parameter, the higher the chances of getting the helminth eggs from the soils of the school's playgrounds. There is need to improve on the personal hygiene and environmental sanitation of the populace especially in pre-primary & primary schools. Children should endeavour to wash their hands properly with soap after playing, before eating and after visiting the toilet.

Keywords

Analysis, Soil Parameters, Zoonotic, Geo-helminth Eggs, School Playground, Soils, Distribution, Nigeria

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 > >> 

Similar Articles

1-10 of 19

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.