Revista de enfermedades tropicales y salud pública

Abstracto

Prevalence, Knowledge and Perception of Lymphatic Filariasis in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Awiya B Henry, Amawulu Ebenezer, Nduka Florence, Chinwe Eze N

Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) is a debilitating Neglected Tropical Disease of a major public health importance caused by the parasitic nematodes; Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori. This study determined the prevalence of lymphatic filariasis together with its knowledge and perception in rural and urban settlements in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. A low prevalence of 1% was recorded, however there was variation in the communities with Agbura (2.7%), followed by Yenizue-gene (0.9%) while Tombia and Akenfa were (0.0%). Higher prevalence was recorded in males 116 (1.7%) than female 184 (0.5%), but there was no significant difference (P>0.05). The prevalence of lymphatic filariasis regarding age revealed that the age bracket (21-30) had the highest with 2 (2.6%) which was followed by (31-40) age bracket with 1 (1.2%). The data from the research questionnaire showed that participants knowledge on causes, mode of transmission and prevention of lymphatic filariasis were low while the perceptions towards the socio-economic impacts of lymphatic filariasis were high, hence the involvement of respondents across the study communities.