Studies on Urinary Schistosomiasis in Selected Villages around Gusau Dam Site, Zamfara State, Nigeria

A study on urinary schistosomiasis was conducted to determine its prevalence and intensity in five villages around Gusau Dam, Gusau Local Government Area, Zamfara state. A total of five hundred (500) urine samples were examined for the eggs of Schistosoma haematobium using standard filtration technique. The overall prevalence was 47%. However, the highest prevalence (65.47%) of the infection was recorded in Bokawa. The mean egg count for the whole study area was 237.94 eggs/10ml of urine. Koramar Gora had comparatively high mean egg count of 330.46 eggs/10ml, than other villages. Prevalence of the infection based on the sources of drinking water has indicated that, those persons who use river (60.00%), pond (50.37%) and dam (46.15%), respectively as their sources of water had higher prevalence than those who use well (38.05%), borehole (19.35%) and others (18.75%) who use tap and packaged water, at Gusau (capital city) during their business. However, a highly significant association (x2 = 36.571; df=5; P<0.01) was found between prevalence of infection and source of drinking water. This study revealed that, the study area is endemic for urinary schistosomiasis and there is therefore, the need for government intervention to effectively control the disease in the area.