Enteric Salmonella species and Intestinal Helminthes Co-infection among Typhoid Fever Patients attending PHC Clinics in the Northern Zone of Nasarawa State, Nigeria

Diarrheal disease continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries and globally, intestinal parasites, and Salmonella species remain major contributors to acute enteric infections. The study was aimed at determining the co-infection of Salmonella species and helminthic parasites among typhoid fever patients attending Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics in the Northern zone of Nasarawa state, Nigeria. A total of 400 stool samples were aseptically collected of which 390(97.5%) samples were positive for Salmonella species and intestinal parasites. Of these, 70(17.5%), 50(12.5%), 29(7.3%), 03(0.8%) and 197(49.3%) samples were positive for Ascaris lumbricoides, Schistosoma mansoni, Hook worm, S. stercoralis and Salmonella species respectively. The overall Salmonella species-helminthes co-infection was 15%. Multiple parasitic infections were also observed in 19 (7.3%) patients. The prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides, Hook worm, S. mansoni, and S. stercoralis were highest 34.3%, 12.8%, 13.5% and 2.4% among ages 11-20, 21-30, 31-40 and 51-60 respectively. Salmonella species were highly susceptible to Amikacin, Gentamycin, Ciprofloxacin, Ceftriaxone, and Chloramphenicol and resistant to Tetracycline, Amoxicillin, Amoxycillin/clauvulanic acid. It is therefore, imperative that measures such as health education, improvement of safe water supply, sanitation facilities and continuous monitoring of microbiological, parasitological and antimicrobial surveillance are crucial.