PARASITES ASSOCIATED WITH HOUSEFLIES FROM SOME DUMP SITES IN ILISAN AND IKENNE, OGUN STATE, SOUTHWEST NIGERIA

Nwadike Faith Ugochi* and Agbolade Olufemi Moses

ABSTRACT

The common synanthropic housefly (Musca domestica) frequents many filthy places such as dump sites where it picks diverse human pathogens, including parasites, which are eventually mechanically transmitted. Four hundred houseflies collected using baited traps from four dump sites near some food vendors in Ilisan and Ikenne towns, Ogun State, Nigeria, between April and June 2017, were examined parasitological using sedimentation technique. A statistically higher percentage (76.3%, 305/400) of the flies was positive for human parasites’ ova/cysts (P < 0.001). Among positive houseflies, the percentages of occurrence of parasites’ ova/cysts on the body surface in both Ilisan (86.8%) and Ikenne (86.4%) were statistically higher than in the intestinal tract (P < 0.001 in both cases). Parasites’ ova/cysts recorded include those of Ascaris lumbricoides, Hookworm, Enterobius vermicularis, Taenia sp., Fasciola sp., and Entamoeba histolytica. A. lumbricoides (66.7% for Ilisan, 62.5% for Ikenne) had statistically highest prevalences of occurrence (P < 0.001 in both cases). The statistically commonest case of mixed parasites’ species was Ascaris + Hookworm + E. histolytica (36.8%), followed by Ascaris + E. histolytica (24.1%) (P < 0.001). This study has shown that houseflies positive for ova/cysts of soil-transmitted helminths and some other human parasites are present and widespread in the study area. Prompt measures should be taken to check the population and breeding of houseflies, properly and sustainably manage dump sites, and educate the inhabitants of the study area.

Keywords: Houseflies, dump sites, human intestinal parasites, soil-transmitted helminths, mechanical transmission, Nigeria.