Status and Risk Factors of Strongyloides stercoralis Infection in Rural Communities of Xayaburi Province, Lao PDR

The present study was performed to reveal the current status and risk factors of Strongyloides stercoralis infections in the villages of Kenethao district, Xayaburi Province, Lao PDR. Fecal specimens were collected and examined for S. stercoralis using Koga-agar plate culture technique. Among 516 individuals, the prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm infection was 44.2% and 17.1%, respectively. Co-infection was detected in 13.2% of the cases. The prevalence did not significantly differ between males and females (P=0.193). However, the prevalence of S. stercoralis infection increased significantly with age (P=0.041). Of the risk factors examined, both performing farming activities (P=0.001) and walking barefoot when going outside of the house (P=0.003) showed significant correlations with S. stercoralis infections. Our results suggest that S. stercoralis is highly endemic in this area. The National Helminth Control Program of Lao PDR should take actions to control S. stercoralis infection. In addition, provision of health education about the benefits of wearing shoes would be important for reducing infection in the study area. Moreover, the application of high-sensitivity diagnostic approaches is needed to obtain the true impact of S. stercoralis infections in all rural communities in order to provide surveillance activities in Lao PDR.

Modified Formalin-Ether Concentration Technique for Diagnosis of Human Strongyloidiasis

We compared the efficacy and applicability of a modified formalin-ether concentration technique (M-FECT) to the conventional FECT (C-FECT) and the agar plate culture (APC) method for the detection of Strongyloides stercoralis larvae. For this purpose, we used 600 human fecal specimens collected in an endemic area of southern Thailand. In the M-FECT, we used 2 layers of wire meshes, instead of gauze, to avoid the loss by absorption/adhesion of larvae to the gauze during filtration, and we reduced the exposure time of S. stercoralis larvae in stool samples to formalin. By such simple modifications, the efficacy of M-FECT has become comparable to APC and was much better than that of C-FECT for the diagnosis of strongyloidiasis.