Epidemiology and control of Schistosomiasis and other intestinal parasitic infections among school children in three rural villages of south Saint Lucia.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of parasitic infections and the efficacy of treatment among school children in rural villages of south Saint Lucia. METHOD A total of 554 school children participated in this study. Parasitic infections were confirmed by using Kato- Katz method. RESULTS & CONCLUSION Overall, 61.6% of the school children were infected by any parasitic infection. The helminths identified were Ascaris lumbricoides (15.7%), Hookworm (11.9%), Strongyloides (9.7%), Trichuris trichiura (4.7%), Schistosoma mansoni (0.6%), Taenia solium (0.8%) and Enterobius vermicularis (2.1%), Entamoeba coli (9.7%), Iodameba butschlii (5%), Entamoeba histolytica (1.1%), Giardia lamblia (1.8%) and Endolimax nana (2.1%). The control intervention included treatment with albendazole 400 mg and praziquantel 40 mg/kg as well as awareness campaigns. Post-interventional assessment showed the total prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection reduced from 61.6 to 3.6% with a cure rate of 94.2%, following the control methods.