Prevalence and some associated symptoms of mosquito coil usage in Yenagoa Bayelsa State Nigeria

Mosquito coils are insect repellents that are used mostly in Africa, sub-Sahara and some parts of the globe. This study was aimed on prevalence and some associated symptoms of mosquito coil usage in Yenagoa Bayelsa State Nigeria. One thousand four hundred and fifty one apparently healthy male and female volunteers within the age range of 20-50 years were recruited for this study after obtaining oral informed consent from each of them.. Among these volunteers, 527, 492 and 432 were from Agudama-Epie, Ede-pie and Akenfa communities in Yenagoa respectively. The data obtained from these volunteers via questionnaires which were analyzed using descriptive statistic of frequency and percentage revealed 403 (76) %, 365 (74) % and 324 (75) % as users of Read A Dream mosquito coil in the respective communities with 286 (71) %, 266 (73) % and 227 (70) % being unemployed while 264 (66) %, 247 (68) % and 203 (63) % are with no academic and/or professional qualifications. Symptom of throat irritation was manifested in 271 (67) %, 262 (72) % and 253 (78) % of these volunteers in the three communities respectively as compared with other symptoms such as cough, eye irritation, skin irritation, catarrh and headache which were not manifested. In conclusion, a high prevalence of Read A Dream mosquito coil usage was recorded in the three respective communities with unemployed apparently healthy volunteers as well as those with no academic and/or professional qualifications accounting for significant percentage while throat irritation was the only symptom manifested. It is therefore recommended that only mosquito coils certified safe for use by an appropriate authority should be sold in the market and used in accordance to prescribed safety precautions