Abstract:
Intestinal parasitic infections are major health problems in many developing countries,
particularly among pre-school and school-aged students. Monitoring the status of intestinal
parasitic infection among school students is essential to design appropriate intervention
strategies. In line with this, the current study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated
risk factors of intestinal parasitic infections students in Nefas Mewucha General Primary School.
A school based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June, 2023. Socio demographic information and potential risk factors associated with intestinal parasites were
collected through questionnaire survey while parasitological examinations (direct wet mount and
concentration techniques) were conducted to assess the infection status of school students. The
collected data were fed into SPSS version 20 software. Descriptive statistics was used to give a
clear picture of population characteristics. -Chi-square test was used to assess the possible
association of intestinal parasitic infection with socio-demographic information and other
potential risk factors. In addition, logistic regression analyses were used to assess the strength of
association between the dependent and independent variables. This study revealed that 40.4% of
school students were positive for one or more intestinal parasites. The majority of students
(35.2%) were infected by single parasite while only 5.2% of the students had multiple parasite
infection. In the present study, seven different species of intestinal parasites were identified.
Among those intestinal parasites Entamoeba histolytica/dispar was the predominant species
(14.6%) followed by Garedia lamblia (13.6%), and Ascaris lumbricoides (9.7%) detected among
students at Nefas Mewucha general primary school.-The majority (28%) of the students were
infected by intestinal protozoan parasites compared with helminthic parasites. Among the
different socio-demographic and other potential risk factors eating unwashed vegetables (AOR =
5.92: 95%CI: 1.45 - 24.13; p = 0.013), river source of water(AOR = 3.96; 95%CI:0.42(0.16-1.09), not
washing hands before meals (AOR =10.19; 95%CI:4.17-24.92, p < 0.001), not shoe wearing habit,
lack of information about personal and environmental hygiene (AOR = 3.96; 95%CI: 1.15-13.62, p
= 0.03) as well as lack of awareness about the cause and control methods of IPs were
significantly associated intestinal parasitic infection among school students in the study area (p <
0.05). This study revealed that the prevalence of intestinal parasite was moderate among school
students in the study area. The local administrators should improve water source of the
community. In addition, improve the awareness of the students and their parents about the
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importance of hand washing and shoe wearing as well as basic information about personal and
environmental hygiene, cause and control methods of intestinal parasites.