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1 Research paper 1 PARASITOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF DOMESTIC WATER SOURCES IN A 2 RURAL COMMUNITY IN NIGERIA 3 Chollom, Solomon Chuwang 1 ; Bot, David Yakubu 2 ; Bitrus, Joseph Gyang 3 ; Abbah, Idoko 4 Michael 4 ; Ujah Aloysius 5 , Agada, Godwin Ojonugwa 6 ; Chukwu Doris Isioma 6 Peter, Joan 7 and 5 Okwori, Ameh Joseph 6 6 1. Viral Research Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 7 2. Biochemistry and Molecular biology Division, National Veterinary Research Institute, 8 Vom, Nigeria 9 3. Bacteriology Department, Federal College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory 10 Technology, Vom, Nigeria 11 4. Haematology and Blood Group Serology Department, National Veterinary Research 12 Institute, Vom, Nigeria 13 5. Chemical Pathology Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 14 6. Central Diagnostics Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 15 7. Parasitology Division, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 16

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Research paper 1

PARASITOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF DOMESTIC WATER SOURCES IN A 2

RURAL COMMUNITY IN NIGERIA 3

Chollom, Solomon Chuwang1; Bot, David Yakubu2; Bitrus, Joseph Gyang3; Abbah, Idoko 4

Michael4; Ujah Aloysius5, Agada, Godwin Ojonugwa6; Chukwu Doris Isioma6 Peter, Joan7 and 5

Okwori, Ameh Joseph6 6

1. Viral Research Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 7

2. Biochemistry and Molecular biology Division, National Veterinary Research Institute, 8

Vom, Nigeria 9

3. Bacteriology Department, Federal College of Veterinary and Medical Laboratory 10

Technology, Vom, Nigeria 11

4. Haematology and Blood Group Serology Department, National Veterinary Research 12

Institute, Vom, Nigeria 13

5. Chemical Pathology Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 14

6. Central Diagnostics Department, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 15

7. Parasitology Division, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria 16

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Corresponding author: Chollom Solomon Chuwang, Viral Research Department, National 17

Veterinary Research Institute, PMB 01, Vom, Nigeria. Email- [email protected] 18

Abstract 19

Aim: To evaluate the level of safety of water sources in a rural settlement in 20

Nigeria with bias to parasitic infections and to make appropriate 21

recommendations to the government and the community dwellers. 22

Study Design: Investigative study 23

Place and duration of study: Samples were collected in Heipang community in 24

Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria between October-25

December, 2012. They were processed at the General Laboratory of National 26

Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria. 27

Methodology: 100 water samples were collected from domestic water sources 28

in Heipang, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, Nigeria. 10 of 29

the samples were from streams, 60 from ponds, 20 from wells and 10 were from 30

bore holes. Samples were investigated for presence of parasites using standard 31

World Health Organisation approved laboratory techniques. Each sample was 32

subjected to macroscopy, filtration, centrifugation and microscopy. 33

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Results: It revealed that 59 out of 100 water sources investigated have parasitic 34

infestation. Ponds have the highest degree of parasitic contamination (78.3%), 35

streams followed closely with 50%, while wells and bore holes have 35% and 0% 36

in that order. Helminthes were the leading parasitic genera encountered with 37

Ascaris lumbricoides accounting for 33.9% of the parasites. Hookworm was the 38

second most common Helminth with 20.3% prevalence. Strongyloides stercoralis 39

accounted for a paltry 3.4% of the parasites. Protozoan cysts of Balanditium coli 40

and Entamoeba histolytica accounted for 18.6% of parasites each. 41

Conclusion: These findings clearly show that most water sources in Nigerian 42

rural communities constitute grave epidemiological threat to public health. 43

Inhabitants of such communities must boil or treat their water before 44

consumption while government authorities must move in provide safe drinking 45

water to the rural dwellers. 46

Keywords: Water, helminth, protozoa, prevalence, Nigeria 47

48

1. Introduction 49

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Water has always been an important and life sustaining drink to man, it is 50

essential to the survival of all micro organisms. Water composes approximately 51

70% of the human body by mass. It is a crucial component of metabolic 52

processes and serves as a solvent for many body solutes, (Jeffrey, 2007). 53

Water is a liquid at ambient conditions but it often co-exists on earth with its solid 54

state, ice and gaseous state. Water also exists in a liquid crystal state near 55

hydrophilic surface, (Gerald, 2011). 56

Quality water should be free from chemical and biological contamination and 57

must be acceptable in terms of colour, taste and odour in accordance with the 58

World Health Organisation Guidelines on the quality of drinking water (WHO, 59

1993). 60

Wells, bore holes, ponds and streams need a great deal of protection from 61

pollution and contamination by potential parasites, micro-organisms and by 62

harmful chemical substances, unfortunately these water sources have become 63

sites for breeding and harbouring of many disease - causing agents, (Adams, 64

1999). 65

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Water-borne diseases are usually acquired by the consumption of polluted water 66

containing human and animal faecal matter from patients or healthy carriers 67

(Cairncross and Feachem, 1993). 68

Human excreta are important sources of pathogenic organisms especially the 69

intestinal parasites which are equally significant in high morbidity in the general 70

population primarily caused by inadequate disposal of excreta and lack of 71

personal hygiene. Most urban and rural communities in the developing countries 72

do not have adequate disposal system for human waste, many of them defecate 73

indiscriminately in places not far from their dwelling places, on the soil and rocks, 74

by the sides of the streams, homes ponds and wells in some cases into the 75

streams (Adegoke, 2000). Furthermore, excreta from children and free roaming 76

animals are particularly hazardous and are a problem in both urban and rural 77

communities (Ukoli, 2000). 78

Excreta-related communicable diseases become a big problem in areas where 79

untreated human faeces are used as manure. These together with the human 80

faecal wastes that are indiscriminately deposited in the environment are regularly 81

washed into the communities’ water bodies and water pollution becomes a big 82

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problem with the result that fresh vegetables and water sources become highly 83

contaminated with pathogenic parasites. Consequently, the faecal oral route of 84

infection becomes very important and intestinal parasitism assumes enormous 85

proportion especially amongst indisciplined populations that are equally poor in 86

their personal and environmental sanitation (Fitzerpatrick and Kappos, 1999). 87

Efficient refrigeration and commercial canning have been very useful in 88

combating the problem of parasitic infection in the developed countries, but these 89

developments are outside the reach of most areas in the developed countries. 90

Fresh food items therefore come straight from the farms and gardens and water 91

is taken directly from streams and ponds for consumption without pretreatment to 92

kill parasites that may be present (Petters, 1986). 93

Parasitic infections cause various physiological disturbances in the host body. In 94

most species the third stage larva is responsible for infection of new host. The 95

infection of man and animal with these parasites is either by oral route or by 96

active penetration of unbroken skin, and this constitutes one of the public health 97

hazards in tropical Africa and the global world in general (Hassan, 1994). 98

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Parasitic infections affect work and productivity as it is always associated with a 99

diminished capacity to carry out physical work. This is of great significance 100

because in many countries, hard physical work is the means by which families 101

grow their food (Vanden, 1984). WHO (1996) estimated that food and water 102

borne infectious diseases currently infect 3.5 billion people in developing 103

countries and cause about 160,000 deaths per year and 80% of these are 104

children less than 5 years of age. This study is therefore designed to evaluate the 105

parasitic hygiene of water sources in Nigerian communities using the Heipang 106

community as a case study 107

108

109

110

111

112

2. Materials and Methods 113

2.1. Study Area 114

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Heipang is a growing community in Barking Ladi Local Government Area of 115

Plateau State, Nigeria. Over ninety percent of the people are peasant farmers 116

involved in crop and animal production. The population is … Major water sources 117

are wells, streams, ponds and in isolated cases boreholes. Inspite of the location 118

of the state airport, Polytechnic and the proposed in-land container port in the 119

area, government presence in terms of good roads, electricity, pipe-borne water 120

amongst others are only being enjoyed by less than one-quarter of the 121

community. As such, it serves as a template for a typical rural settlement in 122

Nigeria. 123

2.2. Sample Collection 124

100 water samples were collected all together in the entire length and breadth of 125

the community. 10 of the samples were from bore holes, 10 from wells, 60 from 126

ponds while 10 were from streams. 127

Clean glass specimen bottles were used to collect samples from streams, 128

boreholes and ponds. A public fetcher was used to draw water from wells into a 129

clean sample container. All the water samples were well labeled and transported 130

immediately to the laboratory for examination. 131

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2.3. Sample Processing 132

Collected samples were examined both macroscopically for colour and presence 133

of adult parasites. For purpose of microscopy, concentration by centrifugation as 134

described by WHO (1991) was adopted. Briefly: 135

A gauze filter was placed into a funnel and then placed on top of a centrifuge 136

tube; the water samples in each container were shaken and passed through the 137

filter into separate tubes to reach the 10ml mark. The filter was then removed 138

and particulate materials present discarded as of bore holes water sample no 139

particles were found. The tubes were then transferred to the centrifuge tubes and 140

centrifuged for 5 minutes at a pre-determined 300rpm. After the period of 141

centrifugation, the supernatant was discarded by gently inverting the tubes 142

leaving the deposits in the tube. The tubes were placed on a rack and the fluid 143

on the sides allowed to drain down the sediments in tubes. Sediment were then 144

re-suspended. A drop of the deposits was placed on a clean slide for 145

examination under a cover slip. 146

2.4. Direct Wet Preparation 147

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Using Pasteur pipette, the deposit was placed on a clean grease-free glass slide 148

and was covered with cover slip to avoid air bubbles and over floating. The 149

smear was viewed microscopically using x10 and x40 objective for focusing and 150

identification of parasites respectively. 151

2.5. Iodine Preparation: 152

A drop of Lugol’s iodine was placed at the edge of the slide. The smear was 153

examined systematically under the microscope using x10 and x40 objectives for 154

focusing and identification of parasites respectively. 155

2.6. Identification of Parasites 156

Parasites were identified by the morphological structures of their cysts, ova or 157

larvae when focused under the microscope as documented by Cheesbrough 158

(2000). 159

160

3.0. Results 161

All the samples collected from boreholes in the locality were free from parasitic 162

infestation. However, samples from streams, ponds and wells had varied 163

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degrees of parasitic contamination. Out of the one hundred (100) water samples 164

collected and examined, 59 of them had one parasite or the other giving an 165

overall prevalence of 59% in the study site (Table 1). 166

Water from ponds was the most contaminated with 78.3% positivity to parasites, 167

Well water had 35% of well water sources had parasites just as 50% of stream 168

water sources had parasite. However, water from boreholes was parasite-free 169

(Table 1). 170

On the whole, seven different parasites were encountered in this study. They 171

include Ascaris lumbricoides which accounted for 33.9% of all the parasites, 172

Hook worm (20.3%) strongyloides stercoralis (3.4%), Giardia inestinals (1.7%), 173

Balantidium coli (18.6%), Entamoeba coli (3.4%) and Entamoeba histolytica 174

(18.6%). Table II. Reveals that A. lumbricoides is the most widely distributed as 175

if was found in all but one location accounting to 90% spread in the locality, 176

Hookworm followed closely with 70% spread while B.coli and E. histolytica have 177

60% and 50% spread each. The least spread parasites are G. intestinalis, S. 178

stercoralis and Entamoeba coli. 179

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Helminthes were the most prevalent genera accounting to 57.6% of all the 180

parasites recovered with protozoan parasites making up the remaining 42.4%. 181

182

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183

184

Table I: Rate of Contamination of Water Sources by Parasites 185

Water Source No Positive Percentage

186

Stream (n=10) 5 50.0 187

Pond (n=60) 47 78.3 188

Well (n=20) 7 35.0 189

Borehole (n=10) 0 0.0 190

Total n=100 59 59.0 191

192

193

194

195

196

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197

198

Table II: Spread of parasites in all the locations investigated 199

Name of parasite Locations Percentage

A. lumbricoides 9 90%

S. stercoralis 1 10%

G. Intestinalis 1 10%

Hookworm 7 70%

B. coli 6 60%

E. coli 1 10%

E. histolytica 5 50%

200

201

202

203

204

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205

206

4.0. Discussion 207

The outcome of this work indicates clearly that parasitic contamination of water 208

sources in rural communities in Nigeria. The rate of contamination varies 209

between stagnant and flowing water. The ponds in the study area included the 210

deep ponds that lasted throughout the year, shallow ponds last for up to about 6 211

months and dry up. Others were just water filling an existing depression which 212

might be for few weeks or days. However, since the ponds served as reservoirs 213

that collect run-off water from different routes; it therefore stands greater risk of 214

contamination, hence it recorded the highest number of pathogenic parasites. 215

The public health significance of these results is that the pathogenic parasites 216

may pose serious hazard to human health especially on the community dwellers; 217

like the farmers due to occupation and as children due to habits. Another 218

challenge is on people that use water for washing purposes and children that 219

walk around barefooted as the mode of transmission of some helminthes is by 220

the penetration of the unbroken skin, (Arora and Arora, 2010). 221

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Exactly half the number of streams investigated had on parasitic infestation or 222

the other. This is attributed to the fact that streams are regularly being 223

contaminated with faecal materials and sewage due to indiscriminate defecation 224

and rain water. During the cause of this work, human faecal wastes were found 225

around the sides of some streams, ponds and wells visited. 226

35% of wells were infested with parasites. This is due to lack of toilet facilities in 227

most of the communities. Also most wells in these communities are usually left 228

opened. 229

Water samples from boreholes were found to be free from parasites. This is 230

largely attributed to their make-up. Unlike other sources that are opened to 231

external contamination, boreholes are operate a water system that is closed. This 232

therefore asserts that parasitic infestation of water sources is contaminative in 233

nature. It has been previously explained that human parasites do not directly use 234

water bodies for life cycle development. Instead their vectors inhabit water 235

bodies thereby associating their transmission to water bodies and certain water 236

foods (Chollom et al., 2012). Government authorities can therefore improve the 237

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quality of life in these communities by making available more borehole and pipe-238

borne water facilities. 239

Primarily, the risk from intestinal parasitic infections is assumed to be from 240

hookworm and A. lumbricoides, but the prevalence of helminthes in this study 241

ranked higher than those of other parasites. This is in agreement with the 242

observation made by Okwonkwo, (2000). The 18.6% prevalence of B. coli in this 243

study is traceable to the fact that a good percentage of the inhabitants of the 244

study area are into swine production and since the protozoa in question are of 245

worldwide distribution and commonly infect pigs, it then means that the 246

contamination probably arose from water contaminated with faecal material from 247

swine which are mostly raised in semi-intensive or extensive system in this 248

community. 249

Ascaris lumbricoides with prevalence of 33.9% ranked highest than other 250

helminthes. It was closely followed by Hookworm (20.3%) and S. stercoralis 251

(3%). The outcome is not different from that of Griffin and Krishnas (1998). He 252

also concluded that the occurrence of intestinal parasites in water sources is 253

prevalent among poor people in remote rural communities who lack proper toilet 254

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facilities, adequate supply of portable drinking water and poor sewage and waste 255

disposal systems. 256

The implications of these findings therefore suggest that parasitic organisms are 257

having a viable ecosystem in remote settles in Nigeria where toilet facilities, 258

pipeborne water, poor sewage disposal, and illiteracy thrive the most. The 259

combined effect of which exposes the innocent inhabitants, their children and 260

animals to a cycle of endless parasitism resulting in low productivity and high 261

morbidity and mortality rates in most cases (Adam, 1999). 262

263

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265

266

267

268

269

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271

272

273

274

275

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277

278

279

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281

282

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REFERENCES 283

Adams J., (1999): Managing water supply and sanitation in emergencies, 284

Oxfam, Oxford. 285

Adegoke A., (2000): The Challenges of Environmental Management in Africa. 286

The Nigeria Experience. An International Journal of Medical 287

Science. 1(2)13. 288

Arora D. R., and Arora B., (2010): Textbook of Medical Parasitology, 3rd edition 289

Pg. 185 and 210. Published by: Satish K. Jain and Produced by 290

Vinod K. Jain. 291

Cairncross S., and Feachem R., (1993): Environmental Health Engineering in the 292

Tropics: An Introductory Text, 2nd edition john Wiliey, Chischester. 293

Pg. 120. 294

Chance M.M., L., and Evans D.A., (1999): The agent in Gillers H.M., (Ed): 295

The agent in Gillers H.M., (Ed): Protozoal Disease Arnold, London, 296

Page: 420. 297

Fitzerpatrick M and Kappos A., (1999): Environment Health Services in 298

Thailand. Desire, Bangkok. Pg. 211. 299

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Gerald Pollack “Water. University of Washington Pollack Laboratory. Retrived 300

2011-02-05. Water has three phase-gas, liquid, and solid, put 301

recent findings from our laboratory imply the presence of a 302

surprisingly extensive fourth phase that occurs at interfaces”. 303

Griffin G. and Krishnas N., (1998) CME. Infectious disease, Journal of the Royal 304

College of Physicians, London 32(3-4). 305

Hassan S.I., (1994): Parasitic infection in primary and secondary schools in Giza 306

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human body is composed of water? 310

Petters, W., (1986): Comments and discussions II on medical aspects in the 311

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Ukoli F.A.M., (2000): Sanitation in Africa: Nigeria. An International Journal of 314

Medical Science 1(2).25-28. 315

Vanden, Bossche (1984): Economic aspects of parasitic diseases; social 316

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WHO (1991): World Health Organization. Guidelines for drinking water quality. 317

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WHO (1996): World Health Organisation; Catalogue on health indicators. 319

Geneva-320

htt://www.Northampton.ac.uk/ner/who/indicators/wbd.s.html. 321

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