ABSTRACT
Schistosomiasis is a helminthic disease, which affect about 300 million people world-wide, causing illnesses that prevent people from farming and performing other water-contact activities, and at times give rise to malignancies which are fatal. Therefore, studies on schistosomiasis was carried out among the inhabitants of Basirka, Gwaram Local Government Area of Jigawa state, Nigeria between September and October, 2019 to determine the prevalence of Schistosomiasis, occurrence and infectivity of snail intermediate hosts and the effect of water contact activities on the prevalence of Schistosomiasis in the area. A preliminary study was done by collecting recorded cases of schistosomiasis among patients who visited Basirka primary health care centre from November, 2014 to August, 2019. A total of 1008 samples were collected (607 urine samples and 401 stool samples). Faecal and urine samples were examined microscopically for eggs of Schistosomes. The samples were further analyzed using formol ether concentration and centrifugation techniques respectively. From the 607 individuals sampled for urinary schistosomiasis, 129 (21.25%) had eggs of Schistosoma haematobium in their urine. Of the 401 stool samples examined, none was found with the eggs of Schistosoma mansoni, 0 (0.00%). The streams and river within the study area were surveyed for snail intermediate host. The presence of snail intermediate hosts (Bulinus globosus and Bulinus truncatus) and infected hosts are pointers that some of the water bodies in the area are suitable for these intermediate hosts. Though, there was no evidence of transmission olbserved. The presence of infections in the area may be attributed to trans-human herder activities and human migration. There were six different snail species encountered in the area. They consist of four (4) prosobranchs (Melanolides tuberculata, Gabbiella humerosa, Pila wernei and Belamya unicolor ) and two pulmonates (Bulinus globosus and Bulinus truncatus). All snails recovered were examined for natural infections in the laboratory. After group screening, they were then placed in a beaker containing clean tap water and induced to shed cercaria using a 40 watts lamp for 30 minutes. From the 240 snails collected from the water bodies, none shedded cercariae. Infection rates of individuals in different age groups, infection rates by sex (males and females), infection rates by educational status and infection rates by occupational status due to urinary schistosomiasis were statistically significant (P
Key words: Epidemiology, Schistosomiasis, Snail, Basirka, Nigeria.
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