Abstract:
This study aimed at detecting the human hookworm species among peasant farmers in selected Local Government
Areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State, Nigeria. A cross sectional, descriptive study was carried out between November
2014 and October 2015. One thousand two hundred eligible peasant farmers were enrolled in the study. One LGA
was selected from each of the three Senatorial Zones of Kaduna State by simple random sampling method. The
results obtained showed the overall prevalence of hookworm infection in the study population using microscopy
technique to be 18.7%. In respect to LGA, prevalence of hookworm infection was 24.0% in Jema‟a, 17.3% in
Chikun and 14.8% in Zaria LGA. The prevalence of hookworm infection was found to be significantly associated
with the studied LGAs (P< 0.002). The result of the electrophoresis of 15 amplicons obtained from 15 positive
stool samples from the three selected LGAs showed a corresponding base pair bands of 310bp which corresponds
with the base pair of the N. americanus positive control. The result of the sequencing and basic local alignment
search tool (BLAST) obtained showed that Sequence of Sample No. 5 from Zaria LGA had 95% identity with that
of N. americanus, sequence of Sample No. 10 from Chikun LGA had 99% identity with that of N. americanus and
finally sequence of Sample No.15 from Jema‟a LGA also gave a similar correlation of 97% as that of N.
americanus. The result of the specie specific identification of the two human hookworm species (i.e. N.
americanus and A. duodenale) obtained shows that N. americanus was predominant in the study area (Kaduna
State, Nigeria) during the study. The results of this study indicated an overall prevalence rate of hookworm
infection of 18.7% among peasant farmers in Kaduna State. This indicates a potential risk of severe anaemia
among individuals particularly the vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children of school age who
participate in farming. In conclusion, this study revealed the transmission of human hookworm among peasant
farmers in Kaduna State to be at alarming rate. Thus, major prevention and control measures should be adopted to
avoid further spread of the infection; and more so, there is a need for prompt treatment of the infected persons as
well as creating a law that will prohibit indiscriminate defeacation on farm lands.
