scholarly journals Epidemiology of helminth infections: implications for parasite control programmes, a South African perspective

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 1211-1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
CC Jinabhai ◽  
M Taylor ◽  
A Coutsoudis ◽  
HM Coovadia ◽  
AM Tomkins ◽  
...  

AbstractObjectives:To determine the epidemiology of helminthic infections and the efficacy of parasite treatment among rural South African primary school children in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. To assess the South African government's parasite control policy.Methods:The study recruited 268 school children, aged 8 to 10, and randomly allocated them into treatment and placebo groups (treatment consisted of a single dose of albendazole (400 mg) and praziquantel (40 mg/kg)). Anthropometric measurements and the prevalence and intensity of helminth infections were taken at baseline (prior to treatment) and 16 weeks post treatment. Two weeks after treatment prevalence and intensity were again measured for an approximate 50% sub-sample of the children to investigate efficacy of treatment. An analysis of the South African government's policies concerning parasite control is assessed in the light of these epidemiological findings.Results:Low levels of both stunting and wasting were observed throughout the study (approximately 10% and 1%, respectively), but did not vary significantly across either treatment group or time period (P>0.50). At baseline the observed prevalences for the three main helminths found in this study among the treated children were Ascaris lumbricoides 29.5%, Trichuris trichiura 51.9% and Schistosoma haematobium 22.3%. These prevalences declined significantly to 4.7% (P<0.0005), 38.0% (P<0.03) and 3.3% (P<0.0002), respectively, 16 weeks post treatment. The majority of infections observed at baseline were of light intensity, namely A. lumbricoides (50%), T. trichiura (80%) and S. haematobium (100%), and following treatment these levels were reduced significantly (P<0.0001, P<0.05 and P<0.005, respectively). The levels of both prevalence and intensity in the untreated group remained constant. The cure rates over the first two weeks of the study were found to be 94.4% for A. lumbricoides, 40% for T. trichiura and 72.2% for S. haematobium.Conclusion:The benefits of targeted, school-based treatment in reducing the prevalence and intensity of infection supports the South African government's focus of using school-based interventions as part of an integrated parasite control programme. These strategies and programmes are consistent with recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (E) ◽  
pp. 296-301
Author(s):  
Ridha Putri Sjafii ◽  
Oke Rina Ramayani ◽  
Syahril Pasaribu ◽  
Ayodhia Pitaloka Pasaribu

OBJECTIVE: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection remains a public health problem, especially children. Preventive chemotherapy for school-aged children with STH infection in 2012 had only reached half of the World Health Organization target. Therefore, mass drug administration by community-based deworming (CBD) could be a solution to achieve the target. METHODS: A quasi-experimental study was the sample test in STH-infected primary school children at Suka Village, Indonesia. It was conducted from December 2016 to April 2017. A single dose 400 mg albendazole was given in both study groups. Effectiveness was assessed by Kato-Katz stool examination at the 1st and 3rd months after treatment. RESULTS: We enrolled 257 children and divided into school-based deworming (SBD) and CBD group. SBD consisted of 123 children while CBD was 134 children group which divided based on a school cluster system. The prevalence of STH infection is 55.6% with the most common infection that is ascariasis in both groups. The uninfected children are 72.5% of SBD and 59.5% of CBD group. Reinfection was found in 31.8% of SBD and 54.1% of CBD group. There are no significant differences of worm eggs intensity before and after deworming in both groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: SBD found to be more effective compared to CBD in primary school children with STH infection in Suka village, Indonesia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracey-Lee Cloete ◽  
Harsha Kathard

BACKGROUND Effective screening is required to facilitate the early identification of central auditory processing disorder (CAPD) - a deficit within the central auditory nervous system, which can have a significant effect on a child’s listening, learning and communication. While several screening tools have been proposed, there is a lack of contextually appropriate tools that take the needs of a multilingual society, like South Africa (SA), into consideration. OBJECTIVE This study aims to develop a contextually appropriate CAPD screening protocol for children (aged 7 to 12 years) in SA. The specific study aims are: (1) to develop a contextually appropriate screening protocol for CAPD in primary school children in SA, and (2) to evaluate the feasibility of implementing the developed protocol in primary school children in SA. METHODS The study will follow a developmental, mixed methods research design, implemented in two phases. Phase 1 will be applied to address aim 1. The aim will be achieved by (i) conducting a systematic review (i.e. objective 1.1); (ii) applying the nominal group technique (NGT) on experts to identify criteria for an appropriate protocol (i.e. objective 1.2); and (iii) using a combination of expert consultations, questionnaires and rating scales (administered to experts) to devise an appropriate screening protocol (i.e. objective 1.3). Once the protocol is developed, it will be implemented by the recommended end-users. Thereafter, a feasibility study will be conducted in Phase 2 to evaluate the implementation of the protocol. This phase will include field testing the protocol and a focus group discussion with end-users. For Phase 1, the narrative synthesis approach will be used to analyse systematic review data. For the NGT the researcher will tally the participants’ ratings to identify the list of criteria for an appropriate protocol. Content analysis and descriptive statistics will be performed to analyse the expert ratings of the protocols. For Phase 2, descriptive statistics will be performed to summarise features of the study sample and measures used. Thematic analysis will be conducted to analyse the focus group data. RESULTS Ethical clearance was obtained from the university’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC reference number 636/2020) and the Western Cape Education Department granted the researchers permission to recruit educators and learners from primary schools in the area. The systematic review for objective 1.1. was completed and findings outlined the test properties, benefits, and limitations of existing CAPD screening tools. Face-to-face data collection was postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Participant recruitment for objective 1.2 is currently underway and the anticipated completion date for data collection is July 2022. CONCLUSIONS The present study will aim to advance CAPD screening practice by proposing a process to develop a contextually appropriate protocol. The researcher will apply this process in the South African context to develop a CAPD screening protocol for primary school children in SA. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable.


Public Health ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 120 (11) ◽  
pp. 1081-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.D. Agtini ◽  
R.L. Ochiai ◽  
R. Soeharno ◽  
H.J. Lee ◽  
J. Sundoro ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parisa Keshani ◽  
Seyed Mohammad Mousavi ◽  
Zahra Mirzaei ◽  
Zeinab Hematdar ◽  
Najmeh Maayeshi ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Endy Juli Anto ◽  
◽  
Leonard Kristian Sinaga ◽  
Jekson Martiar Siahaan ◽  
◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Background: Helminth infections remain endemic disease, mainly in tropical developing countries. Immunity against a number of helminth infections has been associated with anti-parasitic immunoglobulin-E (IgE). This study aimed to determine the correlation between total IgE level and intensity of whipworm infection in primary school children, Medan, North Sumatera. Subjects and Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at primary school, Tanjung Pura, Langkat, Medan, North Sumatera in Augustus 2019. A total of 19 students was selected for this study. The dependent variable was intensity of whipworm egg. The study subjects were selected by purposive sampling method. The independent variable was total IgE level. The data for dependent variable was measured by Kato-Katz technique. The total IgE serum concentration was measured by ELISA. Data were analyzed by Spearman correlation test. Results: There was a negative correlation between total IgE level and intensity of whipworm infection among primary school children in Medan (r= -0.64; p= 0.003). Conclusion: There is a negative correlation between total IgE level and intensity of whipworm infection among primary school children in Medan. Keywords: whipworm infection, IgE, children Correspondence: Leonard Kristian Sinaga. Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Methodist Indonesia, Medan, Indonesia. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +6282361343969. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/the7thicph.03.76


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jace Pillay

Background: Research has provided evidence about the negative impact of school bullying on the academic performance of primary school children, but studies on the prevalence of school bullying and numeracy performance of children are very scant.Aim: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of school bullying and numeracy performance among primary school children, and its implications for school-based interventions.Setting: The sample comprised 435 children (56.3% females and 43.7% males; Grades 1–7; median age = 11 years) attending six primary schools in three different education districts in Johannesburg, South Africa.Method: The children self-reported their experience of bullying by peers through a questionnaire. In addition, they completed numeracy tests. For children aged 6 to 9 years, the questionnaire was completed with the assistance of trained field workers.Results: The results following a linear regression with multiple predictors indicated that numeracy was significantly associated with contextual variables such as grade and home language. Bullying was strongly associated with socio-economic indicators such as school quintile and regional situation. These variables are important in early school support interventions directed at improving learner numeracy performance in the primary school.Conclusion: The results show a relatively high percentage of bullying in primary schools in the Johannesburg region. The performance in numeracy was significantly associated with the grade and home language of the learner. Contextual variables related to socio-economic situation of learners such as school quintiles and regional situation had strong associations with bullying.


Author(s):  
Claire Penn ◽  
Robyn Lewis ◽  
Andrea Greenstein

This article describes the variations of aspects of visual language of the deaf which have been well researched in other countries and which are hypothesized to exist in South Africa. The results of a study conducted on the signing of a group of deaf school children Johannesburg and described. The signs used by these subjects for twelve lexical items differed from the signs said to be representative of the South African deaf community as a whole. Research and clinical implications are presented.


2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guicheng Zhang ◽  
Jeffery Spickett ◽  
Krassi Rumchev ◽  
Andy H Lee ◽  
Stephen Stick

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document