The prevalence of lice infesting students of primary, preparatory and secondary schools in Cairo, Egypt.
Human lice (head and body) are among the arthropod-ectoparasites of worldwide distribution. Examining students in primary, preparatory and secondary schools recorded prevalence rates of 21.86%, 30.38% and 12.94% respectively. The overall rate of the lice infestation in the three schools was 384 out of 1772 or 21.67%. The prevalence rate of lice infestation among males and females were 17.02% & 37.8% (primary school), 27.8% & 33.1% (preparatory school), and 12.0% & 13.9% (secondary school). These totaled 17.7% (males) and 30.26% (females). The overall ratio of head to body lice was 18.2:1. Consequently, lice mainly the head louse, are still a public health problem particularly among female students in the primary and preparatory schools. In the secondary school prevalence rate of the lice infestation was low. So human lice is still a community health problem.
Morsy
T A
TA
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11566, Egypt.
el-Ela
R G
RG
Mawla
M Y
MY
Khalaf
S A
SA
D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D008297:Male; D008003:Phthiraptera / Q000145:classification; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students