Prevalence and Intensity of Intestinal Parasitic Infections and Factors Associated with Transmission among School going Children

Objective: To determine the prevalence and intensity of intestinal parasitic infections and factors associated with transmission among primary school going children.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.Setting: Muthithi Location situated in Murang'a County; Kenya.Subjects: Multi-stage sampling was used to select 418 children. Stool specimens were examined using Kato-katz technique to determine the number of helminthes eggs per gram of stool and formol ether concentration technique to detect the different protozoan cysts. Data were analysed using Statistical Package format (SPSS version 20.0). Pearson's Chi-square test was used to establish the association between categorical variables. Multivariate analysis was used to determine the factors associated with the infections.Results: The study established that 53.8% (225 out of 418) were infected with one or more of intestinal parasite. Five species of helminthes were identifiedwith prevalence of 11.5%; the predominant helminth parasite identified was Ascaris lumbricoides 9.1% (38 cases). Intestinal protozoan identified in this population was Entamoeba histolytica with prevalence of 42.3% (177 cases). The factors established to be independently associated with presence of intestinal parasitic infection were: age 11-15 years P0.001; use of plain water for hand washing P0.05; eating food without spoon P0.05; consuming raw vegetables P0.001; untrimmed finger nails P0.001 and source of drinking water [river P0.001 and mixed sources (river; well and tap) P0.05]. Conclusion: This study revealed that intestinal parasites still pose a public health problem to school going children. Despite lack of school based deworming programme in this area; treatment combined with health education and other interventions in school age children is recommended as a way of controlling transmission

Relationship between nurses opinion on nursing care for HIV infected/AIDS patients and socio-economic factors in Nyeri District; Kenya

The main objective of the study was to relate the attitudes of nursing staff towards HIV positive and AIDS patients to the nurses' age; sex; religious affiliation and marital status. 211 nurses were randomly selected for the study form all health centres and the only District hospital in Nyeri; Kenya. Information was collected using a self-administered questionnaire; with the help and/or supervision of the investigators. There was statistically significant relationship between marital status of the nurses and the need to keep the HIV status of the patient confidential. 69 of the nurses said that it was not necessary to observe confidentiality for a number of reasons. Out of the 31 of those who said taht confidentiality was necessary; 83 were married. Nurses' expressed fear of contracting AIDS through casual contact did not have a significant relationship with christian denomination to which they were affiliated. 32 of the nurses said that one could get AIDS through casual contact. Other parameters are presented and discussed in this paper. It is evident that nurses need to be more enlightened on AIDS facts in order to improve on the quality of nursing care for HIV/AIDS patients