Hookworm Infection and the Risk Factors Among Plantation Workers in Jember, Indonesia

Abstract

Hookworm infection is one of the neglected tropical disease (WHO) and 428 200 000 people are infected with hookworm in wordwilde. Hookworm’s larvae requires soil media in plantation area. Contamination of plantation soil with hookworm’s larvae can occur through unhygienic defecation habit. Hence, workers in plantation areas have a high risk of being infected with hookworms. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence hookworm infection in plantation workers in five plantation areas of Jember, Indonesia District and the risk factors for hookworm infection. This study was observational analytic study with cross–sectional design. The prevalence of hookworm infection in plantation workers was determined based on qualitative methods (Sedimentation and Floatation Method). The defecation habits of the workers were known through questionnaires by interview method. The characteristics of workers and the risk factors were analyzed by the Chi–square test or Fisher’s exact test. The results of the study showed that the prevalence of hookworm infection in five plantation areas was 21.30 %. Based on the results of the questionnaire, most plantation workers (80.5 %) did not defecate in the toilet but at the river or the plantation area. This risk factor had significant association with the prevalence of hookworm infection (p<0.05). The results of this study indicated that unhygienic defecation patterns cause hookworm contamination in the soil of the plantation area. Therefore, the plantation workers could be always expose by the infective larvae as long as they don’t change their defecation habit.