Parasitic Causes Associated with Diarrhea and Dysentery in Children in Wukari, North East, Nigeria

Parasitic agents associated with diarrhea and dysentery in children constitutes a serious public health challenge globally, especially as the leading cause of death in children (after respiratory diseases). Childhood diarrhea and dysentery affecting children under the ages of between 0-5 accounts for approximately 100% of the global burden. Accurate and timely detection of the aetiology of these diseases is very crucial; but conventional methods, apart from being laborious and time-consuming, often fail to identify difficult-to-culture pathogens. The aetiological agent of an average of up to 40% of cases of diarrhea cannot be identified. Standard bacteriological and parasitological isolation and identification techniques was implored in this study. Parasites identified in this study comprises of Entamoeba histolytica [12], Schistosoma mansoni [10], Ascaris lumbricoides [11] and Gardia lamblia [8]. Entamoeba histolytica 12 (1.9%) is more prevalence when compare to other parasitic agents identified. The percentage of the children with diarrhea and dysentery as a result of the parasitic infection between the ages of (0-1) years old in higher rate (1.8%). The children having the lowest risk are those whose water was filtered (1.4%). Bacteria isolated were Escherichia coli, Salmonella species, and Shigella species with Escherichia coli been the most prevalence. In conclusion, adequate care from parents is highly recommended in other to prevent most of this agent from getting to children. Therefore, proper hygiene from parents through washing of feeding materials, washing of hands and drinking of proper treated water is recommended.