17 / 30
Page 75
Journal of Infectious Diseases and Therapy ISSN: 2332-0877 | Volume: 6
Infectious Diseases
4
th
Annual Congress on
Neglected Tropical & Infectious Diseases
5
th
International Conference on
August 29-30, 2018 | Boston, USA
&
Epidemiological surveys of and research on, soil-transmitted helminths in Southeast Asia: A systematic
review
Aung Tun
National NTD Control Programme, Ministry of Health and Sports, Myanmar
T
his review analyses published data on STH prevalence and intensity in Southeast Asia over the time period of 1900 to the present
to describe age related patterns in these epidemiological measures. This is with a focus on the four major parasite species affecting
humans. Data were also collected on the diagnostic methods used in the published surveys and how the studies were designed to
facilitate comparative analyses of recorded patterns and changes therein over time. PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, ISI Web
of Science, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Global Atlas of Helminth Infections search engines were used to
identify studies on STH in Southeast Asia with the search based on the major key words, and variants on, “soil-transmitted helminth”
“Ascaris” “Trichuris” “hookworm” and the country name. A total of 280 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria from 11 Southeast
Asian countries. It was concluded that the epidemiological patterns of STH infection by age and species mix in Southeast Asia are
similar to those reported in other parts of the world. In the published studies there were a large number of different diagnostic
methods used with differing sensitivities and specificities, which makes comparison of the results both within and between countries
difficult. There is a clear requirement to standardise the methods of both STH diagnosis in faecal material and how the intensity of
infection is recorded and reported in future STH research and in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of the impact of continuing and
expanding mass drug administration (MDA) programmes.
aungtun@gmail.comJ Infect Dis Ther 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2332-0877-C3-045