Incidence of intestinal and urinary parasites among prison inmates

The prevalence of intestinal and urinary parasites in Maiduguri prisons was investigated; stool and urine samples were collected from the inmates and examined microscopically for parasites’ ova, cyst and larvae. 201 (198 male and 3 female) inmates were examined. Of the 66 (32.84%) parasites detected, male inmates had the highest prevalence (32.84%) while the female had none (0.00%). The most parasites detected were helminths (22.89%). The highest occurrence of the parasites are Entameoba coli (9.95%), followed by Hookworm (6.47%), Entameoba histolytica (4.48%), H. nana and Schistosoma haematobium had (3.48%) each, Taenia spp. had the least percentage of occurrences (0.05%). This research recorded high percentage of infection in the new prison (14.14%) out of the 101 inmates examined, while maximum prison had 18.00% out of the 100 inmates examined. The distribution of parasites based on the duration of imprisonment of inmates revealed that infection was high at the early stage of imprisonment (2-10 month). Therefore the living condition and habit of the prisoners prior to getting imprisoned could be responsible for the high rate of infection in the early months of imprisonment.