Prevalence and intensity of infections of three neglected tropical diseases in patients consulted at a Traditional Health Care Centre in Dschang West Cameroon

BACKGROUND: In recent times, soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections seem to loose more and more interest due to the fact that resources are being justifiably diverted to more recent priorities such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. In developing countries, the upsurge of intestinal helminth infections constitutes a problem not only of public health concern but also of development. AIM: To find out the prevalence of STH infections in persons visiting the traditional health care centre in west Cameroon. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to evaluate the prevalence and intensity of STH infections, in persons visiting the centre of phytomedecine, a parasitological investigation of feces was carried out in 223 stools, using three techniques (direct examination, concentration method of Willis, and Mc Master technique). RESULTS: 130 stools were collected from male and 93 from female subjects, hence a sex ratio of 1.4:1. Among the 223 stools examined, 97 specimens were found to be positive with one or several parasite species, thus giving a prevalence of 45.3%. The parasitism occurs from early age (1-10 years) reaching 4.5%. The most infected age group was 21-30 years (31%). Female subjects (28.3%) were statistically more infected than males (15.2%). The intestinal nematode species found were Trichuris trichiura (19.2%), Ascaris lumbricoides (13.4%), and hookworm (10.7%). These parasites occurred as single (19.2%) or multiple infections (10.3%). The mean fecal eggs count was 3722±672, 875±462, and 563±283 for A. lumbricoides, hookworm, and T. trichiura, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results show the necessity of the application of suitable measures which are aimed at reducing the extent of STH.