Prevalence of Urinary Schistosomiasis Infection among Primary School Pupils in Ezza-North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State

Prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in apparently healthy school pupils in EzzaNorth Local Government Area was studied. Three hundred and twenty five (325) samples of urine were analysed.Ordinary centrifugal sedimentation technique was used and the deposits were examined microscopically. Out of the 325 urine samples analysed, 57 were found to be positive for Schistosoma haematobium giving a prevalence of 17.5%. Analysis of the result from the schools studied showed that 30 out of 120 from Ogharugo primary school had S. haematobium in their urine while 18 out of 100 from Okposi Primary school and 9 out of 105 from Umuezeoka primary school were positive for S. haematobium. This gives a prevalence of 25.0%, 18.0% and 8.6% respectively. From the result, it was found out that 24.3% of the males had S. haematobium as against 12.4% of the females. The pupils below the ages of 10 years had a prevalence of 7.7% while those of the 10-16 years had that of 24.1%. K e y w o r d s