Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy.
BACKGROUND: In veterinary parasitology samples are often pooled for a rapid assessment of infection intensity and drug efficacy. Currently, studies evaluating this strategy in large-scale drug administration programs to control human soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:fdd88ffedeb54a4d9d75fd0b95a2a66c 2023-05-15T15:16:07+02:00 Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. Zeleke Mekonnen Selima Meka Mio Ayana Johannes Bogers Jozef Vercruysse Bruno Levecke 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 https://doaj.org/article/fdd88ffedeb54a4d9d75fd0b95a2a66c EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3656117?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 https://doaj.org/article/fdd88ffedeb54a4d9d75fd0b95a2a66c PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e2189 (2013) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2013 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 2022-12-30T22:26:14Z BACKGROUND: In veterinary parasitology samples are often pooled for a rapid assessment of infection intensity and drug efficacy. Currently, studies evaluating this strategy in large-scale drug administration programs to control human soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm), are absent. Therefore, we developed and evaluated a pooling strategy to assess intensity of STH infections and drug efficacy. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Stool samples from 840 children attending 14 primary schools in Jimma, Ethiopia were pooled (pool sizes of 10, 20, and 60) to evaluate the infection intensity of STHs. In addition, the efficacy of a single dose of mebendazole (500 mg) in terms of fecal egg count reduction (FECR; synonym of egg reduction rate) was evaluated in 600 children from two of these schools. Individual and pooled samples were examined with the McMaster egg counting method. For each of the three STHs, we found a significant positive correlation between mean fecal egg counts (FECs) of individual stool samples and FEC of pooled stool samples, ranging from 0.62 to 0.98. Only for A. lumbricoides was any significant difference in mean FEC of the individual and pooled samples found. For this STH species, pools of 60 samples resulted in significantly higher FECs. FECR for the different number of samples pooled was comparable in all pool sizes, except for hookworm. For this parasite, pools of 10 and 60 samples provided significantly higher FECR results. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study highlights that pooling stool samples holds promise as a strategy for rapidly assessing infection intensity and efficacy of administered drugs in programs to control human STHs. However, further research is required to determine when and how pooling of stool samples can be cost-effectively applied along a control program, and to verify whether this approach is also applicable to other NTDs. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 7 5 e2189 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Zeleke Mekonnen Selima Meka Mio Ayana Johannes Bogers Jozef Vercruysse Bruno Levecke Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND: In veterinary parasitology samples are often pooled for a rapid assessment of infection intensity and drug efficacy. Currently, studies evaluating this strategy in large-scale drug administration programs to control human soil-transmitted helminths (STHs; Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and hookworm), are absent. Therefore, we developed and evaluated a pooling strategy to assess intensity of STH infections and drug efficacy. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Stool samples from 840 children attending 14 primary schools in Jimma, Ethiopia were pooled (pool sizes of 10, 20, and 60) to evaluate the infection intensity of STHs. In addition, the efficacy of a single dose of mebendazole (500 mg) in terms of fecal egg count reduction (FECR; synonym of egg reduction rate) was evaluated in 600 children from two of these schools. Individual and pooled samples were examined with the McMaster egg counting method. For each of the three STHs, we found a significant positive correlation between mean fecal egg counts (FECs) of individual stool samples and FEC of pooled stool samples, ranging from 0.62 to 0.98. Only for A. lumbricoides was any significant difference in mean FEC of the individual and pooled samples found. For this STH species, pools of 60 samples resulted in significantly higher FECs. FECR for the different number of samples pooled was comparable in all pool sizes, except for hookworm. For this parasite, pools of 10 and 60 samples provided significantly higher FECR results. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study highlights that pooling stool samples holds promise as a strategy for rapidly assessing infection intensity and efficacy of administered drugs in programs to control human STHs. However, further research is required to determine when and how pooling of stool samples can be cost-effectively applied along a control program, and to verify whether this approach is also applicable to other NTDs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zeleke Mekonnen Selima Meka Mio Ayana Johannes Bogers Jozef Vercruysse Bruno Levecke |
author_facet |
Zeleke Mekonnen Selima Meka Mio Ayana Johannes Bogers Jozef Vercruysse Bruno Levecke |
author_sort |
Zeleke Mekonnen |
title |
Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
title_short |
Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
title_full |
Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
title_fullStr |
Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
title_sort |
comparison of individual and pooled stool samples for the assessment of soil-transmitted helminth infection intensity and drug efficacy. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 https://doaj.org/article/fdd88ffedeb54a4d9d75fd0b95a2a66c |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e2189 (2013) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3656117?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 https://doaj.org/article/fdd88ffedeb54a4d9d75fd0b95a2a66c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002189 |
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PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
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7 |
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5 |
container_start_page |
e2189 |
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