polyparasitism with soil transmitted helminthes and schistosoma haematobium among school-aged children in igede land, benue state, nigeria

Background: polyparasitism is widespread in rural communities of the developing world, and it is a serious problem for public health. the aim of this study is to investigate the co-infection of intestinal parasites and urinary schistosomiasis among school-aged children in two local government areas of benue state.methods: this study collected 452 stool and urine samples from randomly selected participants and examined them using three techniques - direct wet mount, formol ether concentration, and urine sedimentation. the researchers also utilized questionnaires to assess risk factors associated with the samples. the data was then analyzed using the chi-square statistical test to identify any significant relationships between the various factors examined. results: the study found that 29.0% of the 452 randomly selected participants were infected with at least one parasite. 17.3% of the infected were male, while 11.7% were female. 11.7% had multiple infections, with 13.1% in males and 10.2% in females. 15.0% were infected with single parasites, 9.1% had double infections, and 2.7% had triple infections. schistosoma haematobium was found in 1.8% of participants, with 1.1% in males and 0.7% in females. the most common parasite was ascaris lumbricoides (6.0%), followed by hookworm (5.8%). the hookworm-ascaris combination was the most common double infection (4.2%). while males were generally more infected, there was no statistically significant difference between males and females. similarly, the higher infection rate in obi (16.2%) compared to oju (12.8%) was not statistically significant. the 11-15 age group had the highest prevalence of multiple infections (14.2%), but this was not statistically significant across age groups. conclusion: aggressive health education and mass drug administration are recommended in the study area.