PREVALENCE OF INTESTINAL PROTOZOAN PARASITIC INFECTION AND ITS ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS AMONG STUDENTS OF YEIDWUHA PRIMARY SCHOOL, AMHARA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA

Intestinal parasitic infections are growing problems worldwide and have been described as constituting the greatest worldwide cause of illnesses and deaths. Entamoeba histolytica / dispar and Giardia lamblia are major causes of infection among protozoan parasites which infect most school children. However, there was no research conducted so far in this regard in the selected study area. Thus, the major objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of parasitic intestinal protozoan infections and its associated risk factors among students of Yeidwuha Primary School. The design of the study was included a cross-sectional school based epidemiological investigation and a laboratory based experimental survey method involving 336 student participants selected using systematic random sampling technique. Epidemiological data were collected using a structured questionnaire while laboratory-based data were collected using microscopic examination of stool samples for parasites. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 statistical software. A total of 336 stool samples were collected from participants and examined using wet mount technique to detect the presence of intestinal protozoan parasites. The results indicated that the overall prevalence of intestinal protozoan parasitic infection was 31.25% with higher prevalence of Entamoeba hitolytica/ dispar (18.15%) followed by Giardia lamblia (11.9%). Double infections were also recorded in 1.2% of the study participants. Sociodemographic factors like family occupation, and hygienic practices such as water source, water treatment at home, hand washing habit, place of excretion, cleanness of fingernails, habit of playing with soil or mud showed significant association with prevalence of parasitic intestinal protozoan infection in the study area (p