LETERATURE REVIEW: Stool samples of 151 school children in a district of the city of Portoviejo (Ecuador) in order to determine the prevalence and intensity of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and their relationships

Stool samples of 151 school children in a district of the city of Portoviejo (Ecuador) in order to determine the prevalence and intensity of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) and their relationships with anthropometric indices. The samples were analyzed with the semiquantitative KatoKatz technique and the intensity of infections was categorized as light, moderate or high according to the thresholds set by the World Health Organization. Prevalence of soil transmitted helminthiasis was 65% (92 out of 141 collected samples), Ascaris lumbricoides was the most common STH (63%) followed by Trichuris trichiura (10%) and hookworm (1.4%). Heavy intensity infections were found in 8.5% of the stool samples, with T. trichiura showing higher worm burdens than A. Lumbricoides (Andrade C. et al, 2001) Recent global estimates indicate that more than a quarter of the world’s population are infected with one or more of the most common of these parasites—the roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides; the hookworms, Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale; and the whipworm, Trichuris trichiura. About 85% of the 200 million people with schistosomiasis live on the African continent, 70 million people have haematuria associated with chistosoma haematobium infection, and the two commonest species together contribute to the deaths of more than a quarter of a million people a year from complicated nephrosis and portal hypertension. (Shally Awasthi, 2003).