The prevalence of schistosomiasis in school-aged children as an appropriate indicator of its prevalence in the community
Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz
; 105(4): 563-569, July 2010. tab
Article
in English
| LILACS
| ID: lil-554831
Responsible library:
BR1.1
ABSTRACT
School-aged children (6-15 years) from the endemic area of Pernambuco were evaluated both as a target group for and an indicator of schistosomiasis control in the community. Parasitological data were drawn from baseline stool surveys of whole populations that were obtained to diagnose Schistosoma mansoni infection. Nineteen representative localities were selected for assessing the prevalence of schistosomiasis among individuals in the following age groups 0-5, 6-15, 16-25, 26-40 and 41-80 years. For each locality, the prevalence in each age group was compared to that of the overall population using contingency table analysis. To select a reference group, the operational difficulties of conducting residential surveys were considered. School-aged children may be considered to be the group of choice as the reference group for the overall population for the following reasons (i) the prevalence of schistosomiasis in this age group had the highest correlation with the prevalence in the overall population (r = 0.967), (ii) this age group is particularly vulnerable to infection and plays an important role in parasite transmission and (iii) school-aged children are the main target of the World Health Organization in terms of helminth control. The Schistosomiasis Control Program should consider school-aged children both as a reference group for assessing the need for intervention at the community level and as a target group for integrated health care actions of the Unified Health System that are focused on high-risk groups.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Health context:
SDG3 - Health and Well-Being
/
Neglected Diseases
Health problem:
Target 3.8 Achieve universal access to health
/
Target 3.3: End transmission of communicable diseases
/
Helminthiasis
/
Neglected Diseases
/
Schistosomiasis
/
Zoonoses
Database:
LILACS
Main subject:
Schistosomiasis mansoni
/
Endemic Diseases
Type of study:
Prevalence study
/
Risk factors
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged, 80 and over
/
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz
Journal subject:
Tropical Medicine
/
Parasitology
Year:
2010
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Brazil
Institution/Affiliation country:
Instituto Aggeu Magalhães-Fiocruz/BR
/
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz/BR