Guideline: Preventive Chemotherapy to Control Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections in At-Risk Population Groups

Excerpt

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that infections with the main soil-transmitted helminths – the roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and the hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus) – contribute 5.18 million disability-adjusted life-years worldwide in 2010. Globally, an estimated 820 million people are infected with roundworms, 460 million with whipworms and 440 million with hookworms.

Although each species has specific characteristics, these soil-transmitted helminthiases are grouped together for control purposes, owing to: (i) similar geographical endemicity and at-risk groups that are affected; (ii) treatment by the same medicines; (iii) the same tools used for diagnosis; and (iv) similar mechanism of negative impact on human health (linked to the intensity of infection).