High infection rates for onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis in children under five not receiving preventive chemotherapy: a bottleneck to elimination

The current mainstay for control/elimination of onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) relies on ivermectin- and mebendazole/albendazole-based preventive chemotherapies. However, children under five years of age have been excluded in both research activities and control programs, be...

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Veröffentlicht in:Infectious diseases of poverty 2022-04, Vol.11 (1), p.47-8, Article 47
Hauptverfasser: Nana-Djeunga, Hugues C, Djune-Yemeli, Linda, Domche, André, Donfo-Azafack, Cyrille, Efon-Ekangouo, Arnauld, Lenou-Nanga, Cédric, Nzune-Toche, Narcisse, Balog, Yves Aubin, Bopda, Jean Gabin, Mbickmen-Tchana, Stève, Velavan, Tirumalaisamy P, Penlap-Beng, Véronique, Ntoumi, Francine, Kamgno, Joseph
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:The current mainstay for control/elimination of onchocerciasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) relies on ivermectin- and mebendazole/albendazole-based preventive chemotherapies. However, children under five years of age have been excluded in both research activities and control programs, because they were believed to have insignificant infection rates. There is therefore a need for up-to-date knowledge on the prevalence and intensity of STH and onchocerciasis infections in this age group. This study aimed at assessing the rates and intensities of onchocerciasis and STH infections in children under five years of age who are excluded from ivermectin- or mebendazole/albendazole-based preventive chemotherapies. A series of cross-sectional surveys was conducted in four Health Districts in the Centre and Littoral Regions of Cameroon between 2018 and 2019. All subjects aged 2 to 4 years, were screened for prevalence (or infection rate) and intensity [number of eggs per gram of stool (epg) or number of microfilariae per skin snip (mf/ss)] of STH and onchocerciasis infections respectively using the Kato-Katz and skin snip methodologies. Chi-square and the non-parametric tests (Mann Whitney and Kruskal Wallis) were used to compare infection rates and intensities of infections between Health Districts and genders, respectively. A total of 421 children were enrolled in this study. The overall prevalence of onchocerciasis was 6.6% [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3‒9.9], ranging from 3.6% (in the Ntui Health District) to 12.2% (in the Bafia Health District). The intensity of infection ranged from 0.5 to 46 microfilariae per skin snip [median: 5; interquartile range (IQR): 2.25‒8.5]. The overall prevalence of STH was 9.6% (95% CI: 6.5‒13.9), with a high infection rate (29.6%) in the Akonolinga Health District. Two STH species (Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura) were found among infected individuals. The median intensities of STH infections were 1,992 epg (IQR: 210‒28,704) and 96 epg (IQR: 48‒168) for A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura, respectively. This study reveals that children 
ISSN:2049-9957
2095-5162
2049-9957
DOI:10.1186/s40249-022-00973-1