ASSESSMENT OF WATER-BORNE PARASITES AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN AND THEIR WATER SOURCES IN EFA BERI PRIMARY SCHOOL, EJERE TOWN, WEST SHAWA, OROMIA, ETHIOPIA

Shawa Zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia from March-April, 2017. A total of 384 fresh stool samples of school-children were examined using direct wet mount, formol-ether concentration and Modified Ziehl-Neelsen methods and 72 water samples from different sources were examined to detect the presence of water-borne parasites. The resulst indicated that the overall prevalence of water-borne parasitic infections among students was 38.0%. The result revealed that Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium species, Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura were the common water-borne parasites in the study population with prevalence of 14.3%, 8.6%, 2.1%, 10.7%, and 2.3%, respectively. The prevalence of water-borne parasitic infections was significantly associated with some of the risk factors, such as family size, presence or absence of latrine, source of drinking water, water handling practices, awareness to personal hygiene and environmental sanitation and awareness to water-borne parasitic infections (p0.05 for each). However, some other socio-demographic related factors, such as sex, age and parent’s educational level were not significantly associated with water-borne parasitic infections (p0.05 for each). The parasitological analysis of water samples in this study demonstrated that 100% of the samples taken from unprotected water sources were positive with one or more water-borne parasites cysts, oocysts and/or ova. The study has revealed that water-borne parasites represent a major public health problem amongst the school children of Efa Beri primary school. Therefore, health education related to personal hygiene and environmental sanitation and cost effective water purification mechanisms were recommended to minimize the risk and exposure of water-borne parasitic infections in the stud area.