FUNAAB don offers hope on tackling environmental parasites

A Professor of Public Health Parasitology in the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Professor Sammy Sam-Wobo, has made research progress that would be helpful in overcoming the problem of human infection of the disease, Schistosomiasis.

Over the last one decade, Sam-Wobo had led several research projects that studied helminthiasis, trypanosomosis, schistosomiasis, malaria, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis on the public health effects of the parasites on the environment.

As part of his efforts in enabling a better environment, he had also researched disease transmissions in communities and among school children living close to dams and reservoirs in which the results of the investigations show clearly that the risk of schistosomiasis transmission was still high and there should be concerted efforts by health managers to control and eradicate the scourge.

Professor Sam-Wobo, who is of the Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, College of Biological Sciences (COLBIOS), noted that he had concentrated on the public health effects of parasitology on the environment and focused on investigating the impact of helminth parasites on man and animals with respect to water supply and sanitation on the epidemiology and transmission of helminth infections.

“Some of our hospital-based studies provided information on trichomoniasis and sero-prevalence of malaria co-infecting with hepatitis B and syphilis among ante-natal attendees, with a view to providing information on the vulnerability of these sets of persons to the welfare of the foetus.

“Our findings on the parasitological and entomological evaluations on the blackfly migration study between Nigeria and Benin Republic, showed that forest flies were the predominant species in the Ogun-Oyo axis of Nigeria. Also our molecular report provided information that S. soubrense was the dominant species.”

The results of the epidemiological study on human populations along Ogun River systems in Nigeria showed that ivermectin treatment had greatly reduced the infection of the microfilaria in the study population with respect to the control of onchocerciasis.

“However, the community directed treatment on ivermectin activities in Nigeria needs to be further strengthened,” he stated.