Malaria Co – Infection with Urinary Schistosomiasis, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis B Virus, and Human Immunodeficiency (HIV) Virus among Students in Three Local Government Areas of Ekiti State, South Western Nigeria
Introduction: Malaria, Typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis, AIDS and hepatitis B virus disease are major public health problems in the tropical and subtropical countries; they exert a huge burden of morbidity, mortality and economic loss on the populace. Aims: The study investigates the prevalence of co–infection of malaria, typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis, hepatitis B virus and HIV virus among 306 students between the ages of 10- 21 years in three local government areas of Ekiti – state Nigeria. Methodology: Blood samples were randomly collected for the examination of malaria parasites, typhoid fever, hepatitis B virus and HIV virus while urine examination was done for urinary schistosomiasis by random sampling and survey for a period one week. Results: The results show that the overall prevalence of malaria, typhoid fever, urinary schistosomiasis and hepatitis B virus were 42.2%, 2.9%, 2.9% and 2.9% respectively. The female students had the highest prevalence of single infection with malaria fever having the highest figure (42.2%). Malaria and Urinary schistosomiasis had the highest prevalence of double infection of 2.3 %, while schistosomiasis and hepatitis B had the lowest prevalence of 0.3%. Also, male students had the highest prevalence of double and triple infections. The co-infection rate of malaria, urinary Schistosomiasis and hepatitis B was 0.3% and this occurred in male between the ages of 19-21 years, none of the students tested positive for HIV virus and therefore no students was found in the quaternaries. Conclusion: Co-infections is prevalent in this study area, therefore there should be integrated control approach directed against these diseases.