Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis infections among school children in Danane, Western Côte D’Ivoire

Intestinal schistosomiasis is very common in children and cause significant morbidity. Danané is located in the west of the Côte d’Ivoire which is an area where intestinal schistosomiasis transmission is established. The Ministry of Health of Côte d'Ivoire which have acceded to the global goal of eliminating these diseases as a public health problem, has adopted a five year strategic plan in 2011. The mass drug administration campaigns are one of the key elements of this strategic plan. The present study therefore examined the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni among school children in Danané, Côte d’Ivoire. A cross-sectional study was undertaken in schools between November 2016 and February 2017. In total, 510 children, aged between 4 and 15, were included. Single stool samples from each child were collected and processed using the Kato-Katz method to diagnose schistosomiasis. Of the sample, 52 (10.2%; IC 95%: 7.9-13.1) were infected with S. mansoni, with intestinal schistosomiasis prevalence ranging from 3.3 to 26.7%, depending on the school. Possible associated factors were also examined, revealing that age over 9 years (p=0.015), living in urban areas (p=0.001), and the tendency to defecate outside at school (p<0.001) were factors that associated with intestinal schistosomiasis prevalence. In summary, this study has revealed that intestinal schistosomiasis is still moderately prevalent among school children in Danané, despite the national control program. Therefore, school-based interventions in urban areas that focus on prevention through education are recommended in this region.