Prevalence of Head Lice Infestation in Primary School Children in Port Harcourt.

BACKGROUND Head lice infestation affects mainly school-aged children and prevalence varies from region to region. Head lice infestation is of public health concern and screening is integrated into the School Health Programme. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of head lice infestation in primary school-aged children in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. DESIGN Cross-sectional descriptive study. SUBJECTS A stratified multi-staged sampling technique was used to recruit pupils between six and 12 years of age, from thirteen primary schools located in three School Districts in the area. The heads of the pupils were inspected for head lice and nits with the aid of a battery operated Robi lice comb, magnifying glass and a torch as light source. RESULTS A total of 1350 pupils were studied, 743 (55%) females and 607 (45%) males giving a female to male ratio of 1.2:1. Ten (0.7%) of the pupils had head lice infestation while five (0.4%) had evidence of past head lice infestation. The number of infested pupils among the younger age group (six to nine years) was seven (0.8%) and is higher, though not statistically significant, than that in the older age group (ten to twelve years) which was three (0.6%) (p = 0.453). No male was found to be infested while ten (1.3%) females were infested and the observed gender difference was statistically significant (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION Head lice infestation still exists in Primary School children in Nigeria, therefore, screening for head lice infestation should still remain a part of the School Health Programme.