Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis in Children from a Rural Community Taking Part in a Periodic Deworming Program in the Peruvian Amazon

Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2019 Sep;101(3):636-640. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.18-1011.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Animals
  • Anthelmintics / therapeutic use
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Feces / parasitology*
  • Female
  • Helminthiasis / epidemiology*
  • Helminthiasis / transmission*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mebendazole / therapeutic use
  • Mothers
  • Peru / epidemiology
  • Prevalence
  • Risk Factors
  • Rural Population*
  • Sanitation
  • Soil / parasitology*

Substances

  • Anthelmintics
  • Soil
  • Mebendazole