221762 Prevalence and Intensity of Soil-Transmitted Helminth Intestinal Infections in School-Aged Children in Rural Nicaragua

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 8:45 AM - 9:00 AM

David Parajón, MD MPH , Co-Director, AMOS Health and Hope, Managua, Nicaragua
Laura Chanchien Parajón, MD, MPH , Co-Director, AMOS Health and Hope, Managua, Nicaragua
     
BACKGROUND Intestinal soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in children is a public health problem in areas of poverty around the world. Deworming helps meet Millenium Development Goal #4. In the literature there are few studies on the prevalence and intensity of infections in children in Nicaragua.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and intensity of STH infections in school children ages 6 to 9 years old in the municipality of San Jose de los Remates (SJR) in Boaco, Nicaragua.

HYPOTHESIS The prevalence of infections will be high (>70%) and the cumulative percentage of moderate or highly infected individuals will be high (>10%).

METHODS In 2007, our faith-based organization (AMOS Health and Hope) coordinated a team including the government health department (MINSA), the government education department (MINED), and volunteer pre-med students from the University of Southern California - San Diego. All of the 24 schools in the municipality submitted stool samples for a total of 459 children ages 6-9 years. The Kato-Katz technique was used for analysis of the samples.

RESULTS The overall prevalence was low (<50%) at 43.6% with Trichuris trichiura and/or Ascaris lumbricoides. The percentage of moderately or highly infected individuals was high (>10%) at 13.8% of the samples.

CONCLUSIONS The results place the municipality in category I of the Pan American Health Organizations classification scheme. Recommendations include carrying out mass dewormings of school-aged children 2-3 times a year, health education, and sanitation. Our experience also showed that it is possible for multiple organizations to successfully collaborate on a goal-driven project.

Learning Areas:
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Epidemiology
Protection of the public in relation to communicable diseases including prevention or control
Provision of health care to the public
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe what Soil-Transmitted Helminth intestinal infections are and the magnitude of the problem globally. 2. Provide an overview of the life cycle of intestinal helminths and the main components of an intestinal helminth control program. 3. Describe a common methodology for studying intestinal STH in school-aged children through our study of an entire municipality (24 schools) in rural Nicaragua. 4. Discuss the results for prevalence and intensity of infections of our study and how the Pan American Health Organization recommends to use this information to guide health policies. 5. Explain how it is possible for multiple organizations, governmental and non-governmental, to collaborate effectively on a health project in a school-based setting.

Keywords: School-Based Health Care, Infectious Diseases

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I have the academic background (MPH) and have the experience of conducting several such studies in Nicaragua. I oversee the Deworming Program that my organization implements in rural communities in Nicaragua.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4041.0: Neglected Tropical Diseases / Neglected Zoonoses (organized jointly by International Health and the Veterinary SPIG)