Integrated community-based intervention for urinary schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children from Caxito, Angola

Lemos, Manuel; Fançony, Cláudia; Moura, Sofia; Mirante, Clara; Sousa, Pinto de; Barros, Henrique; Nery, Susana; Brito, Miguel

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11119

Use this identifier to reference this record.

Name:	Description:	Size:	Format:
Integrated community-based intervention for urinary schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children from Caxito, Angola.pdf		267.83 KB	Adobe PDF	Download

Send Feedback

Authors

Abstract(s)

Background: Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infections are major public health problems. We aimed to study the 6-mo impact of mass drug administration with praziquantel and albendazole on urinary schistosomiasis and STH. Methods: We examined children (aged 2–15 y) from one hamlet, who provided urine and feces samples at baseline (n=197), 1 mo (n=102), and 6 mo (n=92); 67 completed the protocol. Results: At baseline, 47/67 (70.1%) children presented Schistosoma haematobium (75.8% in the baseline total sample) and 12/67 (17.9%) with STH (30.5% in the initial sample, p=0.010). Among the children, 47.3% had heavy Schistosoma haematobium infection. The most frequent STH was Trichuris trichiura in 9.0%. We also found Hymenolepis nana (13.2%) and Plasmodium falciparum (9.1%) infections and anemia (82.1%). One mo after chemotherapy there was a significant (p=0.013) reduction of Schistosoma haematobium prevalence (23.5%) and a high egg reduction rate (86.9%). Considering the sample of 67 children, the mean egg concentration was 498 at baseline, 65 at 1 mo, and 252 at 6 mo (p<0.05). We also observed a reduction in STH infections, 50% in Ascaris lumbricoides, 33.3% in T. trichiura, and 50% in hookworms. At 6 mo, the prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium (76.1%) was similar to the baseline and the STH reduction was not significant. Conclusions: Longitudinal studies have reported many losses in these settings, but we were able to show that mass drug administration for control of schistosomiasis and STH presents low effectiveness, that reinfections occur rapidly and that stand-alone anthelmintic therapy is not a sustainable choice.

Keywords

Chemotherapy Mass drug administration Schistosomiasis haematobia Soil-transmitted helminths Children Angola Caxito

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11119

Citation

Lemos M, Fançony C, Moura S, Mirante C, Barros H, Brito M, et al. Integrated community-based intervention for urinary schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children from Caxito, Angola. Int Health. 2020;12(2):86-94.