Research Article Intensity of Nematode Infection in Children Aged 3 to 5 Years Living in Mukuru Kwa Njenga Slum Settlement, Nairobi, Kenya Lynda Allan , 1 Fiona N. Mbai, 1 Dorcas S. Yole, 2 and Moses Owino 3 1 DepartmentofBiomedicalSciencesandTechnology,eTechnicalUniversityofKenya,P.O.Box52428-00200,Nairobi,Kenya 2 Department of Applied Sciences and Technology, e Technical University of Kenya, P.O. Box 52428-00200, Nairobi, Kenya 3 Embakasi Medical Health Centre and Mukuru Health Centre, P.O. Box 30108-00100, Nairobi, Kenya Correspondence should be addressed to Lynda Allan; akilynda@gmail.com Received 21 January 2020; Revised 19 March 2020; Accepted 25 March 2020; Published 14 April 2020 Academic Editor: Pedro P. Chieffi Copyright © 2020 Lynda Allan et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. e burden of nematode infections is high mostly in children below 5 years old, with clinical manifestations ranging from mild to painful symptoms due to severe infections that end up suppressing the immune system of the infected children. e occurrence of these infections is highest in areas of extreme poverty. is study evaluated the intensity of nematode infections and assessed the status of deworming in children aged 3 to 5 years living in Mukuru slum settlement, Nairobi County, Kenya. Methodology. A total of 172 children aged between 3 and 5 years were sampled across the 5 major villages of Mukuru Slum settlement: Kwa Njenga, Vietnum, Wapewape, Kwa Reuben, and Motomoto. Community health workers administered ques- tionnaires on the deworming history of children. Stool samples were collected, macroscopically examined, and microscopically analysed using Kato-Katz technique to assess the intensity of infection. e intensities of nematode infections were expressed as eggs per gram (epg) of faeces. Results. e point prevalence of nematode infection among the 98 children in the 1 st sampling was 25.5% with a mean infection intensity of 5424 epg, whereas among the 74 children sampled in 2 nd sampling, 47.3% had nematode infection with a mean infection intensity of 12384 epg. e average nematode infection for the 172 participants was 34.9% with a mean intensity of 17808 epg. e highest number of children infected with nematodes was in the village of Wapewape where 34 participants were examined and 36.3% were infected with a mean intensity of 3216epg. Kwa Reuben and Vietnum villages had the same prevalence values of 32.4% where 34 participants in each village had a mean intensity of 3624 epg and 4512 epg, respectively. In both samplings, more than 80% of children had been dewormed more than 6 months prior to the study. Ascaris lumbricoides was the only species of intestinal nematodes identified to be present in the stool samples of children in this study, whereas Trichuris trichiura and hookworm infections were found to be absent. e intensity of infection was not dependent on age or gender. 1. Introduction e rates of intestinal nematode infections are high in children. ese parasites are largely infectious and their spread is linked with poverty. erefore, their occurrence is highest in areas of poor hygiene [1]. ere are several species of nematode worms; however, Hookworms, Ascaris lumbricoides, and Trichuris trichiura are among the most prevalent nematodes, estimated to infect almost one-sixth of the global population [2]. One significant feature of nematodes, given their expected global prevalence, is the link between the occurrence and strength of infection. While prevalence indicates the population affected, morbidity is dependent on infection intensity. e symptoms indicating the presence of an intestinal nematode are commonly associated with the severity of infection [3]. A slight nematode infection is often asymp- tomatic, while a mild to heavy infection can be linked with painful and severe symptoms leading to suppression of the immune system. However, indirect damage to the immune system can occur in the absence of any noticeable infection by interfering with immune response processes to other infectious diseases. e principal mechanisms by which intestinal nema- todes damage human hosts are diverse taking into account feeding on host tissues, including blood, leading to a loss of iron and protein (especially with hookworm), resulting in Hindawi Journal of Tropical Medicine Volume 2020, Article ID 4124808, 7 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/4124808