Extent of schistosoma haematobium infection and perceived causes among primary school children in bahi district, central Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

Schistosomiasis remains to be one of the most public health problems worldwide with an estimate of 200 million cases reported each year. Of the total cases reported annually, 85% occur in sub-Saharan Africa with over 150,000 deaths due to chronic infection with Schistosoma haematobium. In Tanzania, Schistosomiasis is known to be highly endemic across the country with published data indicating that all regions have some level of infection ranging from 12.7 to 87.6 %. The severe consequences of Schistosomiasis infection especially among children include poor health and nutrition, retarded cognitive development, and less educational achievement. This study aimed to examine prevalence and risk factors associated with Schistosoma infections among school children aged 9-13 years in Bahi District, Dodoma region, Central Tanzania. To attain this objective, 200 children were interviewed by trained Health Workers (HWs) using a structured questionnaire. In addition, children were asked to collect urine in supplied 20 ml screw top plastic containers between 0900 and 1100hours for laboratory examination. The primary outcome of the study was S. haematobium infection as diagnosed by microscopic examination. The results show that the majority of the children were children of peasants who are engaged in subsistence farming. This group constituted 132 (66 %) of the total studied children. Male children were more likely to wash their hands or take bath in a nearby surface water source than females: 49.0 % males against 23% females (p <0.001). Moreover, the results show that of the total children in the study, more than half, 124 (62.0 %) reported seeing red urine sometimes in their life. Of these, 94(76 %) reported seeing red urine in the past month, whereas the remaining 30 (24 %) saw red urine last year. Males were more likely to report seeing red urine in the past four weeks preceding the date of the survey than their female counterpart: 51.0 % males versus 42.9 % females. However, based on biological analysis results, the extent of S. haematobium infection was found to be 53.9 % for males and 43.9 % for females (p=0.155). S. haematobium infection is quite high among primary school children in Bahi district. Appropriate measures such as mass treatment is need to be done in order to limit the potential severe consequences of Schistosomiasis infection among school children in Bahi district.