Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2019 Feb 15;13(2):e0006591. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.

Background: Mass drug administration (MDA), targeted at school-aged children (SAC) is the method recommended by the World Health Organization for the control of morbidity induced by soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection in endemic countries. However, MDA does not prevent reinfection between treatment rounds and research suggests that only treating SAC will not be sufficient to bring prevalence to low levels and possibly interrupt transmission of STH. In countries with endemic infection, such as Myanmar, the coverage, who is targeted, and rates of reinfection will determine how effective MDA is in suppressing transmission in the long-term. Read More

Ann Parasitol 2018 ;64(4):379-384

Institute of Experimental Morphology, Pathology and Anthropology with Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., bl. 25, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

Eighty fecal samples from free living wild boars and internal organs from eleven hunted animals from Bulgaria were investigated during 2016–2017. The fecal samples were analyzed with the coproscopical methods of Fulleborn, Shterbovich and serial sedimentations, as well as the modified Baermann technique. Helminthological necropsies of the lungs and gastrointestinal tracts of the animals were carried out through the common technique. Read More

Parasitol Res 2019 Feb 8. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne School of Veterinary Science, The University of Melbourne, Werribee, Victoria 3030, Australia.

In this study, 100 gastrointestinal tracts of Australian alpacas were examined to assess the worm burden and to identify the species of nematode present. Faecal samples were collected from 97 alpacas and processed for faecal egg counts (FECs). For identification of the species, both molecular (multiplexed-tandem polymerase chain reaction [MT-PCR]) and morphological techniques were used. Read More

Rev Chilena Infectol 2018 ;35(5):501-508

Organización Panamericana de la Salud, Asunción, Paraguay.

Introduction: Currently, Paraguay has no data on the prevalence of soil-transmitted geohelminth infection in schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years.

Aim: To determine the prevalence and intensity of infection by Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms and the socio-cultural-environmental characteristics of the affected population.

Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study, in three semi-tropical climatic zones: continental, semi steppe and humid. Read More

Parasitol Res 2019 Feb 4. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Melbourne Veterinary School, The University of Melbourne, Werribee, Victoria 3030, Australia.

This study involved a national cross-sectional survey of gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) of alpacas in Australia. A total of 1545 fresh faecal samples were collected from both sexes of alpacas and processed for faecal egg counts (FEC) and molecular identification of nematodes using the multiplexed tandem PCR assay. Based on egg morphology, the overall prevalence of GINs was 66% while that for strongyles was 59%. Read More

Parasitol Int 2019 Feb 1;70:41-45. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Department of Parasitology, School of Medicine, Pusan National University, Immunoregulatory Therapeutics group in Brain Busan 21 project, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

Recent studies have attempted to treat autoimmune diseases using Trichuris suis. whipworm) eggs. Large quantities of eggs can be obtained efficiently by collecting from the feces of the porcine hosts rather than by extracting from the female worm uterus. Read More

J Helminthol 2019 Feb 4:1-8. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Laboratorio de Arbovirología,Centro de Investigaciones Regionales 'Dr. Hideyo Noguchi',Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán,Mérida,Mexico.

The black rat Rattus rattus and the house mouse Mus musculus are two commensal rodent species that harbour and shed zoonotic pathogens, including helminths. The aim of this survey was to study the helminth community and the patterns of infections in R. rattus and M. Read More

mSystems 2019 Jan-Feb;4(1). Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.

Microbiome analyses can be challenging because microbial strains are numerous, and often, confounding factors in the data set are also numerous. Many tools reduce, summarize, and visualize these high-dimensional data to provide insight at the community level. However, they lose the detailed information about each taxon and can be misleading (for example, the well-known horseshoe effect in ordination plots). Read More

Cas Lek Cesk 2019 ;157(7):373-379

In the course of the years 1983-1989, 5511 foreigners in the age of 20 to 40 years old from 87 countries were examined for human parasites. Everyone was examined within 1 months of arrival in the Czech Republic in the Active Case Detection (ACD) program. The intensity of infection was measured in those parasites which do not reproduce in the human body. Read More

Infect Dis Health 2019 Jan 12. Epub 2019 Jan 12.

Department of Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Biosciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, P.M.B 5025, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Electronic address:

Background: Schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted helminthiasis cause considerable morbidity and mortality in developing countries, especially among children. To this end it, a cross-sectional survey to determine the pattern of Schistosomiasis and Soil-transmitted helminthiasis co-infection was undertaken among primary school pupils in Oduma Community in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Methods: Fresh urine and stool samples were collected from pupils. Read More

PLoS Pathog 2019 Jan 14;15(1):e1007265. Epub 2019 Jan 14.

Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, United Kingdom.

The whipworm Trichuris trichiura is a soil-transmitted helminth that dwells in the epithelium of the caecum and proximal colon of their hosts causing the human disease, trichuriasis. Trichuriasis is characterized by colitis attributed to the inflammatory response elicited by the parasite while tunnelling through intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). The IL-10 family of receptors, comprising combinations of subunits IL-10Rα, IL-10Rβ, IL-22Rα and IL-28Rα, modulates intestinal inflammatory responses. Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2019 Feb;100(2):357-364

Center for One Health Research, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

Gastrointestinal parasites have diverse life cycles that can involve people, animals, and the environment (e.g., water and soil), demonstrating the utility of One Health frameworks in characterizing infection risk. Read More

Infect Dis Poverty 2019 Jan 10;8(1). Epub 2019 Jan 10.

Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Background: Schistosoma mansoni, causing intestinal schistosomiasis, is widely distributed in Ethiopia and new transmission foci are continually reported. Here we report new transmission sites and prevalence of S.mansoni infection among school children in Yachi areas, southwestern Ethiopia. Read More

BMC Public Health 2019 Jan 8;19(1):34. Epub 2019 Jan 8.

Department of Tropical Pathology, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are major public health problems in poor and developing countries that require fecal contamination of the environment for transmission. The consumption of raw vegetables without proper washing is one of the main routes of intestinal parasite acquisition. Therefore, this study was designed to detect the prevalence of intestinal parasitic contamination in commonly consumed raw vegetables sold in three central open-air markets in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, southern Thailand. Read More

Parasitol Res 2019 Feb 4;118(2):701-706. Epub 2019 Jan 4.

Institute for Parasitology, Centre for Infection Medicine, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Bünteweg 17, 30159, Hannover, Germany.

This study aimed to investigate the endoparasite fauna of wild European gray wolves, which are currently recolonizing Germany. In total, 69 fecal samples of wild wolves were collected in Lower Saxony, Germany, from 2013 to 2015, analyzed by the sedimentation-flotation and McMaster techniques and compared to previous results on captive European Gray wolves living in zoological gardens in Germany. In addition to coproscopy, taeniid-positive samples from wild as well as captive wolves were differentiated by amplification and sequencing of small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) and NADH dehydrogenase 1 (nad1) gene fragments. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2018 12 27;12(12):e0007002. Epub 2018 Dec 27.

Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston MA, United States of America.

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) account for a large disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa. While the general cost-effectiveness of NTD interventions to improve health outcomes has been assessed, few studies have also accounted for the financial and education gains of investing in NTD control.

Methods: We built on extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) methods to assess the health gains (e. Read More

J Parasitol Res 2018 21;2018:8242486. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

Veterinary Research Institute, HAO-Demeter, NAGREF Campus, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Internal parasites are limiting factors to successful, sustainable livestock production. Knowledge on how they are dealt with is important to prevent resistance to anthelmintics. The aim of this study was to describe the internal parasitism of indoor pigs in Bamboutos Division in Cameroon, as well as the attendant worm control practices. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2018 12 21;12(12):e0007016. Epub 2018 Dec 21.

International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are characterized by their tendency to cluster within groups of people, typically the poorest and most marginalized. Despite this, measures of clustering, such as within-group correlation or between-group heterogeneity, are rarely reported from community-based studies of NTD risk. We describe a general contextual analysis that uses multi-level models to partition and quantify variation in individual NTD risk at multiple grouping levels in rural Kenya. Read More

Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi 2018 May;30(5):567-570

Department of Human Parasitology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China.

Objective: To investigate the infection status of intestinal nematodes and their risk factors in rural residents of Jiangxia District, Wuhan City, so as to provide the reference for the establishment of targeted prevention and control measures.

Methods: According to the requirements of cross-sectional study of the national human key parasitic diseases, the residents in Shanpo Sub-district, Jiangxia District were randomly selected as the objects for the investigation of the infection status of , hookworm and . A questionnaire survey was performed simultaneously. Read More

Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi 2018 Oct;30(5):518-522

National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; Key Laboratory of Parasites and Vector Biology, National Health Commission; WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases; National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases, Ministry of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200025, China.

Objective: To understand the professional theory, prevention and control practice, experimental diagnosis and other technical skills of parasitic diseases among technicians of all levels of disease control and prevention institutions, so as to provide the evidence for strengthening the capacity building of Chinese professional personnel.

Methods: According to the method of recommendation at all levels, the subjects from disease control and prevention institutions at province, prefecture or county levels were chosen to assess the theory of parasitic diseases and test operation skills by using the method of answering the questions together with on-site operations in China. A database was built consisting of subjects' basic information and assessment scores. Read More

J Parasit Dis 2018 Dec 13;42(4):589-597. Epub 2018 Oct 13.

Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, Higher Educational Complex of Saravan, Saravan, Iran.

In this survey, rodents and their endoparasites were investigated in the Jaz Murian depression and adjacent areas, southeast Iran. In total, 146 specimens of rodents belong to 13 species were trapped. In general, 10 different genera of endoparasites including 11 species were collected. Read More

BMC Complement Altern Med 2018 Dec 7;18(1):327. Epub 2018 Dec 7.

The Graduate School, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Mbagathi Road, Nairobi, P.O. BOX 54840, Kenya.

Background: Soil transmitted helminths (STHs) are among the world's neglected tropical diseases. Morbidity due to STHs is greatest in school-age children who typically have the highest burden of infection. In 2001, WHO passed a resolution for the use of large-scale mass drug administration (MDA) to deworm vulnerable children through school based programs. Read More

Acta Trop 2019 Feb 27;190:269-272. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address:

Trichuris trichiura (whipworm) are soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) that causing trichuriasis in human. Trichuris vulpis, a canine whipworm has also been reported occasionally in humans. However, an overlapping dimension in the morphology and due to limited external characters between both species may lead to the potential for misidentification. Read More

Acta Trop 2019 Feb 27;190:244-252. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sevilla, Prof. García González 2, Sevilla, 41012, Spain.

A new species of Trichuris (Nematoda: Trichuridae) is described from the capybara, Hydrochoeris hydrochaeris (Rodentia: Caviidae), from two localities of Corrientes Province, based on morphological characteristics and ITS1 and ITS2 of nuclear rDNA region sequences. This species present morphological differences with 28 species of the genus described from North and South American rodents. Also, the new species is molecularly characterized and differentiated from those species from Muridae, Cricetidae and Myocastoridae rodents recorded from North and South America, Europe and Africa. Read More

Iran J Parasitol 2018 Jul-Sep;13(3):416-422

Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.

Background: Wild boars () are distributed worldwide and found in many parts of Iran. Although is reservoirs for many parasites, there is little data on helminthic prevalence in them. We aimed to survey the status of helminthic infections in in the Mazandaran Province of northern Iran. Read More

Front Immunol 2018 9;9:2557. Epub 2018 Nov 9.

Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Diet composition may play a crucial role in shaping host immune responses and commensal gut microbiota populations. Bioactive dietary components, such as inulin, have been extensively studied for their bioactive properties, particularly in modulating gut immune function and reducing inflammation. It has been shown that colonization with gastrointestinal parasitic worms (helminths) may alleviate chronic inflammation through promotion of T-helper cell type (Th) 2 and T-regulatory immune responses and alterations in the gut microbiome. Read More

J Vet Med Sci 2019 Jan 21;81(1):53-56. Epub 2018 Nov 21.

College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea.

A 3-year-old male hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) at the Seoul Zoo, Korea, died without any previous symptoms. Necropsy revealed severe whipworm infection in the large intestine. The animal weighed 2. Read More

PLoS One 2018 15;13(11):e0207495. Epub 2018 Nov 15.

Department of Conservation Biology, Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

Relocation is one of the mitigating measures taken by either local people or related officers to reduce the human-bonnet macaque Macaca radiata conflict in India. The review on relocations of primates in India indicates that monkeys are unscreened for diseases or gastrointestinal parasites (henceforth endoparasites) before relocation. We collected 161 spatial samples from 20 groups of bonnet macaque across their distribution range in south India and 205 temporal samples from a group in Chiksuli in the central Western Ghats. Read More

Rev Bras Parasitol Vet 2018 Oct-Dec;27(4):423-429. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Instituto Federal da Paraíba - IFPB, Sousa, PB, Brasil.

This study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of nematode resistance to anthelmintics on sheep herds from the semi-arid region of Paraíba, Northeastern Brazil. Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test (FECRT) was carried out on 20 properties. In each herd, 30 animals were divided into five groups containing six animals each: group I, treated with albendazole 10%, 4 mg/kg; group II, ivermectin 0. Read More

Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench 2018 ;11(4):352-358

Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to simultaneously investigate parasitic contamination of treated wastewater and downstream vegetable farms that are irrigated with treated sewage, during a year.

Background: (Oo) Cysts and eggs of parasites are resistant to most of routine wastewater treatment process. Irrigation of vegetables farms with either treated wastewater or illegally use of raw wastewaters enhances the risk of contamination with enteric pathogens. Read More

Trop Med Infect Dis 2018 Nov 11;3(4). Epub 2018 Nov 11.

Control Program of Parasitic Diseases, Libreville BP 2434, Gabon.

In order to follow the Preventive Chemotherapy (PC) for the transmission control as recommended by WHO, Gabon initiated in 2014 the mapping of Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminthiasis (STH). Here, we report the results of the Northern and Eastern health regions, representing a third of the land area and 12% of its total population. All nine departments of the two regions were surveyed and from each, five schools were examined with 50 schoolchildren per school. Read More

Korean J Parasitol 2018 Oct 31;56(5):495-500. Epub 2018 Oct 31.

College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan Province 410128, P.R., China.

Trichuris suis infection in pigs is ubiquitous in intensive and extensive farms, which causes potential threat to human health. The objective of this research was to investigate the prevalence of T. suis in pigs in Hunan province. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2018 11 12;12(11):e0006954. Epub 2018 Nov 12.

Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, Campus Coupure, Ghent, Belgium.

Background: Mass anthelmintic drug administration is recommended in developing countries to address infection by soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH). We quantified the public health benefit of treatment with mebendazole in eight million Vietnamese children aged 5-14 years from 2006 to 2011. This was compared to the environmental impact of the pharmaceutical supply chain of mebendazole, as the resource use and emissions associated with pharmaceutical production can be associated with a public health burden, e. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2019 Jan 8;26(1):570-576. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Laboratoire Ecologie et Environnement (Unité associée au CNRST, URAC 32), Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Université Cadi Ayyad Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco.

The prevalence and the identification of the helminth eggs load of raw sewage sludge was assessed of three different wastewater treatment systems. The results showed a variety of parasite species with following average concentrations; five taxa belonging to three classes nematodes, cestodes and trematodes were inventoried. The class of nematodes is the most diverse with 5 taxa. Read More

Biomed Res Int 2018 9;2018:3048373. Epub 2018 Oct 9.

Department of Biosystems Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture and Plantation Management, Wayamba University, Makandura, Sri Lanka.

Gastrointestinal (GI) parasitic infection is a serious issue in cattle management. The effects of GI parasites may vary with age, sex of cattle, nutritional condition, and severity of infection. Prevalence of GI parasites among cattle population in Gampaha District has not been studied and there is no published study available. Read More

Mucosal Immunol 2019 Mar 6;12(2):352-362. Epub 2018 Nov 6.

Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, Wellington, New Zealand.

The ability of helminths to manipulate the immune system of their hosts to ensure their own survival is often credited with affecting responses to other pathogens. We undertook co-infection experiments in mice to determine how infection with the intestinal helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus affected the parasitological, immunological and physiological outcomes of a primary infection with a distinct species of helminth; the lung migratory parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. We found that migrating N. Read More

Sci Rep 2018 Oct 29;8(1):15921. Epub 2018 Oct 29.

Institute of Parasitology McGill University, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada.

Parasitic worms have a remarkable ability to modulate host immune responses through several mechanisms including excreted/secreted proteins (ESP), yet the exact nature of these proteins and their targets often remains elusive. Here, we performed mass spectrometry analyses of ESP (TsESP) from larval and adult stages of the pig whipworm Trichuris suis (Ts) and identified ~350 proteins. Transcriptomic analyses revealed large subsets of differentially expressed genes in the various life cycle stages of the parasite. Read More

Sci Transl Med 2018 Oct;10(464)

Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.

Macrophages in the healthy intestine are highly specialized and usually respond to the gut microbiota without provoking an inflammatory response. A breakdown in this tolerance leads to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but the mechanisms by which intestinal macrophages normally become conditioned to promote microbial tolerance are unclear. Strong epidemiological evidence linking disruption of the gut microbiota by antibiotic use early in life to IBD indicates an important role for the gut microbiota in modulating intestinal immunity. Read More

Iran J Vet Res 2018 ;19(3):189-193

An indirect-ELISA for the diagnosis of mixed gastrointestinal (GI) nematode infection comprising , and species was standardized using crude somatic antigen of (CSAg-Oc) and sera of slaughtered goats with known parasitological status including , , and (strong positive), and (weak positive) and parasite free goats (negative). Two cut-off points, i.e. Read More

Pan Afr Med J 2018 28;30:66. Epub 2018 May 28.

Department of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, Nigeria.

Introduction: Enteric parasitic infections have been increasingly recognized as etiology of life-threatening chronic diarrhea in PLWHA in sub-Saharan Africa. This study investigated the prevalence and burden of intestinal parasitic infection among PLWHA in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria.

Methods: Freshly passed stool samples were collected from PLWHA. Read More

PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2018 10 15;12(10):e0006655. Epub 2018 Oct 15.

Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.

Background: Standard diagnosis of human soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections is based on the microscopic detection of helminth eggs in stool and supports programmatic decision making in control programs. However, the current standard diagnostic techniques still show a number of limitations. Recently, the FECPAKG2 method was developed to detect helminth infections and asses drug efficacy in sheep or cattle. Read More

Parasite Epidemiol Control 2018 Nov 24;3(4):e00075. Epub 2018 Sep 24.

Parasitology Unit, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

, , and , the four major Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) and also infect humans worldwide. Most studies on Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) carried out in Ibadan were faecal examination based while relatively few soil examination based studies were carried out mostly around school premises using limited number of sampling locations. This study was therefore designed to assess the level of soil contamination with STH and associated risk factors in the eleven local government areas of Ibadan. Read More

Parasitology 2018 Oct 10:1-8. Epub 2018 Oct 10.

USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Animal Parasitic Diseases Lab,Beltsville, MD 20705USA.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has played an important role in the evolution of nematodes. Among candidate genes, cyanase, which is typically found only in plants, bacteria and fungi, is present in more than 35 members of the Phylum Nematoda, but absent from free-living and clade V organisms. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the cyanases of clade I organisms Trichinella spp. Read More

Am J Trop Med Hyg 2018 Dec;99(6):1591-1597

Departamento Parasitología, Facultad Farmacia, Universidad Valencia, Burjassot, Valencia, España.

The prevalence and intensity of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections in schoolchildren from Corn Islands (Nicaragua) were examined to detect mono- or poly-STH infected children, measuring different intensity levels, and to elucidate measurably increased odds of being anemic. A total of 341 stool samples provided by 2- to 15-year-old children were examined using a concentration technique and a Kato-Katz slide. Intensity of infection was expressed as eggs per gram (epg) of feces to classify light, moderate, or heavy intensity infection. Read More

Trop Med Infect Dis 2018 Oct 8;3(4). Epub 2018 Oct 8.

College of Science and Engineering and Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Science, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia.

The impacts of free-roaming canids (domestic and wild) on public health have long been a concern in Australian Indigenous communities. We investigated the prevalence of zoonotic helminth diseases in dogs and sympatric dingoes, and used radio telemetry to measure their spatial overlap, in an Aboriginal community in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Samples collected from dingoes and dogs showed high levels of infection with the zoonotic hookworm, . Read More

J Water Health 2018 Oct;16(5):724-736

Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, CDC, 1600 Clifton Rd, MS A-38, Atlanta, GA 30329, USA.

Improved water quality reduces diarrhea, but the impact of improved water quality on Ascaris and Trichuris, soil-transmitted helminths (STH) conveyed by the fecal-oral route, is less well described. To assess water quality associations with diarrhea and STH, we conducted a cross-sectional survey in households of south-eastern Guatemala. Diarrhea was self-reported in the past week and month. Read More

Parasit Vectors 2018 Oct 3;11(1):535. Epub 2018 Oct 3.

Children's Health and Environment Program, Child Health Research Centre, The University of Queensland, QLD, South Brisbane, Australia.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are highly prevalent in the Philippines. Mapping the prevalence and high-intensity of STH co-infections can help guide targeted intervention programmes to reduce morbidity, especially among vulnerable school-aged children. In this study, we aimed to predict the spatial distribution of the prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura co-infection and infection intensity classes in the Philippines to identify populations most in need of interventions. Read More

Proc Biol Sci 2018 Oct 3;285(1888). Epub 2018 Oct 3.

Department of Zoology, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SY, UK

Throughout history, humans have been afflicted by parasitic worms, and eggs are readily detected in archaeological deposits. This study integrated parasitological and ancient DNA methods with a large sample set dating between Neolithic and Early Modern periods to explore the utility of molecular archaeoparasitology as a new approach to study the past. Molecular analyses provided unequivocal species-level parasite identification and revealed location-specific epidemiological signatures. Read More

J Vector Borne Dis 2018 Apr-Jun;55(2):116-121

Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Background & Objectives: The transmission of schistosomiasis, caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma, relies on freshwater snails that act as an intermediate host while human and other mammalian act as the definitive hosts. Many non-human primates (NHPs) such as Chlorocebus aethiops (vervet) and Papio anubis (baboon) are reported to be infected with Schistosoma mansoni in Ethiopia, but the role they play in parasite maintenance and transmission is still not clear. The objective of this study was, therefore, to determine the prevalence of S. Read More

Trop Med Infect Dis 2018 Sep 5;3(3). Epub 2018 Sep 5.

School of Public Health, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Maseno University, Kisumu 40100 Kenya.

Parasitologic surveys of young adults in college and university settings are not commonly done, even in areas known to be endemic for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths. We have done a survey of 291 students and staff at the Kisumu National Polytechnic in Kisumu, Kenya, using the stool microscopy Kato-Katz (KK) method and the urine point-of-care circulating cathodic antigen (POC-CCA) test. Based on three stools/two KK slides each, in the 208 participants for whom three consecutive stools were obtained, prevalence was 17. Read More