Intestinal Helminthiases in twenty one villages in Taikkyi township

ABSTRACT

<A> field research project was undertaken under the title "The relationship between the control of Ascaris infection and child nutritional status" in 21 villages in Taikkyi township. At the beginning of study in August 1984, a mass stool examination was done on 3 whole villages (n=1052) and on 2-12 year old children (n=1070) in the remaining 18 villages. In addition, deworming was carried out in randomly selected 8 villages, involving different age groups. The results were confined to the baseline study. Ascaris lumbricoides was the principal intestinal helminth and its infection rate was 77.38 per cent in the population as a whole. The prevalences of other infections were 5.63 per cent for Trichuris trichiura, 2.53 per cent for hook worm and 2.07 per cent for strongyloides stercoralis. By age, the prevalence of Ascaris infection was conspicously high in the 5-9, 10-14 and 15-19 years old. The mean worm burden per person in all the ages was 6.6 and the age-specific worm burden was highest in the 5 to 9 year age group, about 10 worms per child. The findings were compared with those of other studies. It is high time to develop a community-based mass chemotherapy programme to control ascariasis in Myanmar based on national experiences in previous control and research projects.