142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis: The 6-months results of a community-directed treatment intervention in Caxito, Angola

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 12:30 PM - 12:42 PM

Manuel Lemos , CISA Project - Health Research Centre in Angola, Caxito, Angola
Sofia Moura , CISA Project - Health Research Centre in Angola, Caxito, Angola
Clara Mirante , CISA Project - Health Research Centre in Angola, Caxito, Angola
Miguel Brito , CISA Project - Health Research Centre in Angola, Caxito, Angola
Carlos Pinto-Sousa , Medical School, Agostinho Neto University
Susana Nery , School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston, Australia
Henrique Barros , Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) are major public health problems affecting 2 billion individuals, disproportionately at poor communities in low income countries. We aimed to study the 6-month impact on urinary schistosomiasis and STH of a generalized community treatment (single dose praziquantel and albendazole).

We examined children (2-15 years) from one hamlet, that provided urine and stool samples at baseline (n=198), 1 (n=106) and 6 (n=98) months; 61 children (33 school aged, 35 male) completed the protocol. At baseline, 43/61 (70.5%) children presented Schistosoma haematobium (75.8% in the baseline total sample) and 10 (16.4%) STH (30.5% in the initial sample, p=0.004). Of those infected with S. haematobium 36.1% presented heavy infection (≥500 eggs/10 ml of urine). The most frequent STH was Trichuris trichiura in 8.2%. However the most commonly found helminth was Hymenolepis nana-14.8%. One month after chemotherapy there was a significant (p=0.001) decrease in S. haematobium (from 43 to 29, but 5.6% of negative cases turned positive); at six months, the prevalence was similar to baseline, 77% for S. haematobium (78% in the global sample) but 8.2% for STH; No differences were found between preschool (2-5 yrs.) and school (6-15 yrs.) children. Considering the 61 children, median egg concentration was 630 at baseline, 60 at 1-month and 320 at 6-months, p<0.05.

Longitudinal studies are extremely complex in these settings, but we were able to show that Schistosomiasis and STH treatment presented low efficiency, reinfections occurred rapidly and standing alone anthelmintic therapy is an ineffective choice beyond immediate morbidity effects.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the six months efficiency of mass distribution of praziquantel and albendazol on children Schistosomiasis and soil transmitted helminthiasis. Assess the impact of research conditions in low income countries on the conduction and results of interventions

Keyword(s): Child Health, Treatment Outcomes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I teach at Agostinho Neto University, in Angola and I am a medical doctor. My work and scientific interests are to combat neglected tropical diseases that are endemic in my country, like schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis. At present I am a PhD student at the University of Porto, Portugal.
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: 4238.0: Emerging & neglected tropical diseases