Prevalence of Parasites on Door Handles of School Shuttle Buses in Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of parasites (protozoan cysts and helminths ova) on door handles of school shuttle buses at the Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria, between March and October 2023. Atotal of 120 samples from the door handles of 20 shuttle buses were analysed using the formol-ether concentration technique to determine the presence of intestinal parasites. Light microscopy was used for morphological identification of parasites. The results showed that out of the 120 samples examined, 31(25.8%) had one or more parasites. The ova of helminth species found were Ascaris lumbricoides 7(13.5%), Strongyloides stercoralis 7(13.5%), Taenia 6(11.5%), Trichuris trichiura 5(9.6%), Fasciola hepatica 3(5.8%), whereas the intestinal protozoan isolates were Entamoeba histolytica 9(17.3%), Iodamoeba butschili 6(11.5%), Giardia lamblia 4(7.7%), Pentatrichomonas hominis 5(9.6%). Out of the six different door handles examined (A to C) for each shuttle bus, the driver exit handle A had the highest prevalence of (30.8%), followed by the passengers’ 2 entrance handle B (21.2%), passenger exit handle B (17.3%), passengers 1 2 entrance handle C (13.5%), driver entrance handle A (11.5%) while passengers 1 2 exit handle C had the lowest prevalence of (5.7%). There was a significant 2 difference (p=0.04) in the prevalence of parasites contaminating the different door handles. Asurvey of 236 shuttle bus users revealed that 71 (30.1%) were male and 165 (69.9%) were female, with 172 (72.9%) reporting hand cleaning after toilet use but only 36.9% using soap. This indicates that proper hand washing habits were not practiced. When hands are not washed properly after passing out faeces and are used to touch the door handles of shuttle buses, it leads to contamination with parasitic cysts and ova. The constant use of shuttle buses on school campuses puts students and staff at risk of parasitic infection.