Helminthiasis

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Introduction:

                 Helminths are parasites/worms which infest the human body and can cause helminthiasis. These infections are very common in the tropics and subtropics. Children who have a habit of walking barefoot in mud or those that eat paint or sand or those who have a history of PICA are more prone to such infections.

Etiology:

        Most common worm infestations are caused by flatworms(like tapeworms and flukes) and roundworms(like ascariasis, pinworm, and hookworm infection).

Epidemiology:

                  Studies have suggested that within the USA, approximately 1.3 to 2.8 million people have serological evidence with Toxocara species, 4 million with soil-transmitted helminths, 41,400 to 169,000 with cysticercosis, and approximately 8000 with schistosomiasis. A recent study done in Chicago shows that approximately 12% of subjects providing samples which were recent immigrants were found to have evidence of current or prior infection with a pathogenic parasite species where the most common infections were Toxocara (6.4%), followed by S. stercoralis (4%).

                         The affected rate in females was 8% and in males were 7%. Global prevalence is significantly reduced in the comparison between 1990 and 2016, such as the prevalence of ascariasis was 1089.36 million in 1990 and 799.68 million in 2016, Trichuriasis was 524.62 million and 435.09 million, Hookworm was 497.52 million and 450.68 million, schistosomiasis was 195.36 million and 189.77 million, Lymphatic filariasis was 44.14 million and 29.38 million, Onchocerciasis was 24.13 million and 14.65 million.[15] Approximately more than 2 billion people have soil-transmitted helminthiasis.

Symptoms:

  1. Nausea
  2. Tiredness
  3. Abdominal pain
  4. Loss of appetite

Prevention and Control:

                                    Control is based on periodical deworming to eliminate infecting worms, health education to prevent re-infection, and improved sanitation to reduce soil contamination with infective eggs.

Pearls of Wisdom:

  1. Always consider the possibility of helminthiasis in children who have a history of PICA, Who have microcytic hypochromic anemia, Unexplained chronic vague abdominal pain, and a perianal itch.
  2. Always treat the whole family rather than just the patient.
  3. Consider repeating the dose after 2 weeks.

References and citations:

  1. The etiology was taken from WHO website and the URL is https://www.who.int/health-topics/soil-transmitted-helminthiases#tab=tab_1
  2. The epidemiology was taken from NIH website and the URL is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560525/
  3. The Prevention and control were taken from CDC and the URL is https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/sth/index.html


             

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