A cross-sectional survey of soil-transmitted helminthiases in two Myanmar villages receiving mass drug administration: epidemiology of infection with a focus on adults
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are still highly prevalent in southeast Asia. The country of Myanmar
has had ongoing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes since 2003 in an attempt to control STH and
reduce STH-related morbidities. Whilst the MDA programmes have reported high nationwide coverage, there
have been no epidemiological surveys that included measurements from adults. This paper details three
cross-sectional surveys that took place over the course of a year in two villages endemic for STH and receiving
MDA in lower Myanmar.
Results: At baseline, 27.81% of participants were infected with at least one type of STH. The most prevalent STH
was Trichuris trichiura (18.12%) followed by hookworm (8.71%) and Ascaris lumbricoides (5.34%). Most infections
were of low intensity, measured by eggs per gram of faeces (EPG). Gender stratification revealed that A.
lumbricoides prevalence was significantly higher in females, whereas hookworm prevalence was significantly
higher in males. The distribution of EPG in the study sample was highly overdispersed, suggesting that most
people release few eggs whereas a few people release many eggs. Adults harbour a major proportion of the
overall STH burden; 65.15% of STH infections were harboured by adults.
Conclusions: STH infection remains at medium prevalence in the study villages despite past and recent MDA.
Recorded prevalence of STH in school-aged children has not substantially decreased since the last monitoring
and evaluation activities in Myanmar in 2013. Analyses suggest that adults are a major contributor to the total
STH prevalence and EPG burden, probably perpetuating transmission.
has had ongoing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes since 2003 in an attempt to control STH and
reduce STH-related morbidities. Whilst the MDA programmes have reported high nationwide coverage, there
have been no epidemiological surveys that included measurements from adults. This paper details three
cross-sectional surveys that took place over the course of a year in two villages endemic for STH and receiving
MDA in lower Myanmar.
Results: At baseline, 27.81% of participants were infected with at least one type of STH. The most prevalent STH
was Trichuris trichiura (18.12%) followed by hookworm (8.71%) and Ascaris lumbricoides (5.34%). Most infections
were of low intensity, measured by eggs per gram of faeces (EPG). Gender stratification revealed that A.
lumbricoides prevalence was significantly higher in females, whereas hookworm prevalence was significantly
higher in males. The distribution of EPG in the study sample was highly overdispersed, suggesting that most
people release few eggs whereas a few people release many eggs. Adults harbour a major proportion of the
overall STH burden; 65.15% of STH infections were harboured by adults.
Conclusions: STH infection remains at medium prevalence in the study villages despite past and recent MDA.
Recorded prevalence of STH in school-aged children has not substantially decreased since the last monitoring
and evaluation activities in Myanmar in 2013. Analyses suggest that adults are a major contributor to the total
STH prevalence and EPG burden, probably perpetuating transmission.
Date Issued
2017-08-04
Date Acceptance
2017-07-24
Citation
Parasites & Vectors, 2017, 10
ISSN
1756-3305
Publisher
BioMed Central
Journal / Book Title
Parasites & Vectors
Volume
10
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Parasitology
Tropical Medicine
Soil-transmitted helminths
Neglected tropical diseases
Myanmar
Cross-sectional survey
Mass drug administration
METAANALYSIS
MEBENDAZOLE
PREVALENCE
EFFICACY
HOOKWORM
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
374