Title
Soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children from a rural community taking part in a periodic deworming program in the Peruvian Amazon
Date Issued
01 January 2019
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Calderon, Maria L.
Siu D.
Juarez, Luciana
Gallegos, Rodrigo
Uriol, Celene
Rondon, Claudia
Baca, Katia
Fabian, Rosario
Publisher(s)
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Abstract
Children in the Peruvian Amazon Basin are at risk of soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infections. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of STH infection in children from a rural Amazonian community of Peru and to elucidate epidemiological risk factors associated with its perpetuation while on a school-based deworming program with mebendazole. Stool samples of children aged 2–14 years and their mothers were analyzed through direct smear analysis, Kato–Katz, spontaneous sedimentation in tube, Baermann’s method, and agar plate culture. A questionnaire was administered to collect epidemiological information of interest. Among 124 children, 25.8% had one or more STH. Individual prevalence rates were as follows: Ascaris lumbricoides, 16.1%; Strongyloides stercoralis, 10.5%; hookworm, 1.6%; and Trichuris trichiura, (1.6%). The prevalence of common STH (A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and hookworm) was higher among children aged 2–5 years than older children (31.6% versus 12.8%; P = 0.01). In terms of sanitation deficits, walking barefoot was significantly associated with STH infection (OR = 3.28; CI 95% = 1.11–12.07). Furthermore, STH-infected children more frequently had a mother who was concomitantly infected by STH than the non-STH–infected counterpart (36.4% versus 14.1%, P = 0.02). In conclusion, STH infection is highly prevalent in children from this Amazonian community despite routine deworming. Institutional health policies may include hygiene and sanitation improvements and screening/deworming of mothers to limit the dissemination of STH. Further studies are needed to address the social and epidemiological mechanics perpetuating these infections.
Start page
636
End page
640
Volume
101
Issue
3
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología
Medicina tropical
Parasitología
Pediatría
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85071899525
PubMed ID
Source
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
ISSN of the container
0002-9637
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the participants of this study, the local community and health authorities for their kind support. Our sincere gratitude to Carmen Quijano and Matilde Quijano from the Laboratory of Parasitology of the Tropical Medicine Institute “Alexander von Humboldt” for their collaboration with specimen analysis. We thank the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene for letting us present the preliminary results of this study in the ASTMH Annual Meeting in 2016 through a travel award granted to the first author; we received important feedback which was included in this manuscript. Partial funding was provided by the Harvard Medical School Master of Medical Sciences in Global Health Delivery program and the Hospital Cayetano Heredia 2015 Research Grant.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus