BACKGROUND Intestinal helminthic infections are endemic worldwide. In developing countries like India these contribute to a major morbidity among children. Factors like poverty, lack of proper sanitation, hygiene, illiteracy, hot and humid tropical climate play a role in the transmission of these infections. Under RMNCH + A (child health) school children were receiving biannual albendazole in the months of February and August. We wanted to assess the prevalence of soil transmitted helminthic infections (STHI) among adolescent school children in a residential welfare school. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted in the month of October 2018 in rural field practice area of the Department of Community Medicine, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam. The study was done in a residential welfare school for girls in peri urban areas of Visakhapatnam. The study was done among 96 girls who were present in the school during the days of survey by using systematic random sampling after obtaining informed consent. A pretested interview schedule was used to collect data. Microscopic stool examination for ova / cyst and haemoglobin estimation was done for all the study subjects. Data was entered in Microsoft Excel and analysis was done by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 21). RESULTS The mean age of the subjects was 13.41 ± 1.07 years, with age ranging from 12 to 15 years. About 19 % (19.8 %) of the study subjects were found to have STHI on microscopic stool examination. Among them about 68 % of the study subjects were found to have Ascaris lumbricoides followed by Trichuris trichiura (32 %). Mean haemoglobin level was 9.73 + 1.06 (g / dl). On statistical analysis, no significant difference was found between presence of infection and variables like anaemia (P = 1), open air defecation (P = 0.51), nail biting (P = 1), presence of symptoms (P = 1) and pica (P = 0.75). CONCLUSIONS Helminthic infections burden is still high in the school children KEYWORDS Adolescent School Girls, Anaemia, Soil Transmitted Helminthic Infections (STHI’s), Residential School, Visakhapatnam
