Young Adults in Endemic Areas: An Untreated Group In Need of School-Based Preventive Chemotherapy For Schistosomiasis Control and Elimination
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Date
2018
Authors
Korir, Harrison K
Riner, Diana K
Kavere, Emmy
Omondi, Amos
Landry, Jasmine
Kittur, Nupur
Ndombi, Eric M
Ondigo, Bartholomew N
Secor, W Evan
Karanja, Diana M. S
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PubMed Central
Abstract
Parasitologic surveys of young adults in college and university settings are not commonly
done, even in areas known to be endemic for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths. We have
done a survey of 291 students and staff at the Kisumu National Polytechnic in Kisumu, Kenya, using
the stool microscopy Kato-Katz (KK) method and the urine point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen
(POC-CCA) test. Based on three stools/two KK slides each, in the 208 participants for whom three
consecutive stools were obtained, Schistosoma mansoni prevalence was 17.8%. When all 291 individuals
were analyzed based on the first stool, as done by the national neglected tropical disease (NTD)
program, and one urine POC-CCA assay (n = 276), the prevalence was 13.7% by KK and 23.2%
by POC-CCA. Based on three stools, 2.5% of 208 participants had heavy S. mansoni infections
( 400 eggs/gram feces), with heavy S. mansoni infections making up 13.5% of the S. mansoni cases.
The prevalence of the soil-transmitted helminths (STH: Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura
and hookworm) by three stools was 1.4%, 3.1%, and 4.1%, respectively, and by the first stool was 1.4%,
2.4% and 1.4%, respectively. This prevalence and intensity of infection with S. mansoni in a college
setting warrants mass drug administration with praziquantel. This population of young adults is
‘in school’ and is both approachable and worthy of inclusion in national schistosomiasis control and
elimination programs.
Description
Article
Keywords
schistosomiasis, Kato-Katz, POC-CCA, young adults, soil-transmitted helminths
Citation
Korir, H. K., Riner, D. K., Kavere, E., Omondi, A., Landry, J., Kittur, N., ... & Colley, D. G. (2018). Young adults in endemic areas: an untreated group in need of school-based preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis control and elimination. Tropical medicine and infectious disease, 3(3), 100.