TY - JOUR
T1 - Ascaris lumbricoides infection in pre-school children from Chiriqui Province, Panama
AU - Holland, Celia V.
AU - Crompton, D. W.T.
AU - Taren, D. L.
AU - Nesheim, M. C.
AU - Sanjur, Diva
AU - Barbeau, Irma
AU - Tucker, Katharine
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the help Dr Rolando Caballero, Director of the Sistema Integrado de Salud, Chiriqui Province, Panama, and the Panamanian health workers who assisted in the field work. We also thank Dr Rodrigo Tarte, Director of IDIAP in Panama and his staff who provided laboratory and logistical support for the project. Financial support was obtained from USAID grant AID/DSTE-5542-6-3036-00 from the office of the Science Advisor, from I.C.I, pic. (Pharmaceuticals Division), Macclesfield, U.K., who also provided the anthelmintic drug, and from Public Health Service Training grant AM07158. We thank Mr M. L. N. Murthy for editing and typing the manuscript.
PY - 1987/12
Y1 - 1987/12
N2 - An epidemiological survey of intestinal parasitic infections was conducted in a sample of 203 children aged 3–5 years from a semi-urban and a rural community in Chiriqui, Panama, in 1983–4. On the basis of stool examinations, the prevalences of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm, Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba spp. and Strongyloides stercoralis were found to be 27, 34, 14, 15, 5 and 4% respectively. The results from children from the two communities were compared. Polyparasitism occurred significantly more often in rural than semi-urban children. Following anthelmintic treatment with levamisole, the numbers of A. lumbricoides passed/child were recorded and the frequency distribution of the parasite was observed to be highly aggregated with a variance to mean ratio of 10·2. For A. lumbricoides, relationships between worm burden, worm biomass and egg production were investigated. In the data analysis, an attempt was made to explore the influence of numbers of male worms on egg production. The results are compared with those obtained during other recent studies on the epidemiology of A. lumbricoides infection in other countries.
AB - An epidemiological survey of intestinal parasitic infections was conducted in a sample of 203 children aged 3–5 years from a semi-urban and a rural community in Chiriqui, Panama, in 1983–4. On the basis of stool examinations, the prevalences of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm, Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba spp. and Strongyloides stercoralis were found to be 27, 34, 14, 15, 5 and 4% respectively. The results from children from the two communities were compared. Polyparasitism occurred significantly more often in rural than semi-urban children. Following anthelmintic treatment with levamisole, the numbers of A. lumbricoides passed/child were recorded and the frequency distribution of the parasite was observed to be highly aggregated with a variance to mean ratio of 10·2. For A. lumbricoides, relationships between worm burden, worm biomass and egg production were investigated. In the data analysis, an attempt was made to explore the influence of numbers of male worms on egg production. The results are compared with those obtained during other recent studies on the epidemiology of A. lumbricoides infection in other countries.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0031182000058030
DO - 10.1017/S0031182000058030
M3 - Article
C2 - 3696782
AN - SCOPUS:84976012967
SN - 0031-1820
VL - 95
SP - 615
EP - 622
JO - Parasitology
JF - Parasitology
IS - 3
ER -