Prevalence of scabies among secondary school students in Anambra State, Nigeria

Scabies has been listed as one of the Neglected Tropical Diseases. Therefore, this study aimed at estimating the prevalence of Scabies among Secondary School Students in Anambra State, Nigeria. A survey of Scabies infection was conducted in fifty (50) randomly selected secondary schools in the three geographical zones of Anambra State, Nigeria. A well-structured questionnaire was employed to elucidate information on age, sex and also on knowledge, attitude and perception (KAP). Focus group discussions, direct clinical observations and microscopic examinations using the skin scraping test method for the confirmation of scabies infestation were also employed. Data analysis was done using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23 and Microsoft Excel version 16. Out of the five thousand (5000) students examined 500 (10.0%) were identified as positive from the research works, the sex-specific prevalent rate showed that 209 out of the 3000 females (6.97%) were positive while 291 out of the 2000 males (14.55%) were positive. The age-specific prevalence showed that age groups 10 to 12 years had the highest prevalence rate (29.0%) and 9.6% in both the male and female students respectively. The infectivity rate among urban and rural schools showed that rural students were more prone to scabies infections (14.12%) than their urban counterparts (5.88%) and the difference was statistically significant. The result of this study helped identify some students with Scabies infection in Anambra state Nigeria for appropriate treatment, prevention and control measures to curb the menace of Scabies infestation.