Diagnostic techniques of soil-transmitted helminths: Impact on control measures

TY - JOUR

T1 - Diagnostic techniques of soil-transmitted helminths: Impact on control measures

AU - Ngwese, Mirabeau Mbong

AU - Manouana, Gédéon Prince

AU - Moure, Paul Alvyn Nguema

AU - Ramharter, Michael

AU - Esen, Meral

AU - Adégnika, Ayola Akim

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: We thank all personnel of the parasitology laboratory of CERMEL-Gabon for their support in providing technical explanations and references on available parasitology diagnostic platforms in the institution. We acknowledge support by Open Access Publishing Fund of University of Tübingen. This work is not funded. However, AAA, is member of CANTAM (EDCTP-RegNet2015-1045) and PANDORA-ID-Net (EDCTP Grant Agreement RIA2016E-1609) networks. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 by the authors. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/6/5

Y1 - 2020/6/5

N2 - Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are common in the tropical and subtropical countries. The burden of disease is highest in endemic areas with limited access to good quality water supply and poor sanitary conditions. Major approaches to control and reduce morbidity caused by worm infections include the periodic deworming of pre-school and school-aged children with anthelminthic drugs. Population-based studies and individual patient management including interventional studies can only be successful when accurate diagnostic techniques are used. The lack of appropriate diagnostic tools providing accurate results concerning both infectious status and intensity of infection-as these two factors vary in regions of low infection intensities-is a major challenge. Currently, available techniques show limited sensitivity and specificity and as such, a combination of several techniques is usually used to diagnose the large variety of parasite species. The objective of this review was to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the different available techniques for the diagnosis of STH infections and to highlight their use in control programs.

AB - Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are common in the tropical and subtropical countries. The burden of disease is highest in endemic areas with limited access to good quality water supply and poor sanitary conditions. Major approaches to control and reduce morbidity caused by worm infections include the periodic deworming of pre-school and school-aged children with anthelminthic drugs. Population-based studies and individual patient management including interventional studies can only be successful when accurate diagnostic techniques are used. The lack of appropriate diagnostic tools providing accurate results concerning both infectious status and intensity of infection-as these two factors vary in regions of low infection intensities-is a major challenge. Currently, available techniques show limited sensitivity and specificity and as such, a combination of several techniques is usually used to diagnose the large variety of parasite species. The objective of this review was to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the different available techniques for the diagnosis of STH infections and to highlight their use in control programs.

KW - Control measures

KW - Diagnostics

KW - Intestinal helminths

KW - Soil-transmitted helminths

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087488086&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/tropicalmed5020093

DO - 10.3390/tropicalmed5020093

M3 - SCORING: Review article

C2 - 32516900

AN - SCOPUS:85087488086

VL - 5

JO - TROP MED INFECT DIS

JF - TROP MED INFECT DIS

SN - 2414-6366

IS - 2

M1 - 93

ER -