A comparative study of intestinal parasitic infections among women at different reproductive stages in Makurdi, Benue State-Nigeria.

A comparative study was carried out to determine the prevalence of intestinal parasites among women of the pre-menstrual, menstrual and post-mentrual stages in Makurdi, capital of Benue State-Nigeria. A total of 750 stools samples (250 premenstruals, 298 menstruals and 202 post-menstruals) were collected and examined for parasites using the formol-ether concentration technique. The overall prevalence was 56.8% with hookworm accounting for 4.8%, Ascaris lumbricoides (9.3%), Entamoeba histolytica (18.90%), Taenia sp(2.1%) and Entamoeba coli(21.6%). Females of the pre-menstrual stage had the highest prevalence rate of 72.80%. No significant association was observed between the different reproductive stages in women and prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections.