Predicting the community prevalence of schistosomiasis mansoni from the prevalence among 7- to 14-year-olds

The World Health Organization suggested that the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni among 7- to 14-year-olds be used to guide treatment strategies in endemic areas. This study explores how well the prevalence in that age group predicted the overall prevalence in the community in data from stool exami...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology 2000-11, Vol.121 (5), p.507-512
Main Authors: RODRIGUES, L. C., WHEELER, J. G., SHIER, R., GUERRA, H. L., PIMENTA, F., LIMA e COSTA, M. F. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Brazil - epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
community treatment
Diseases caused by trematodes
Feces - parasitology
General aspects
Helminthic diseases
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infectious diseases
Medical sciences
Parasite Egg Count - statistics & numerical data
Parasitic diseases
Planification. Prevention (methods). Intervention. Evaluation
Predictive Value of Tests
Prevalence
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Rural Population
Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosoma mansoni - growth & development
Schistosoma mansoni - isolation & purification
Schistosomiases
schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis mansoni - epidemiology
Schistosomiasis mansoni - prevention & control
sensitivity
Sensitivity and Specificity
specificity
Tropical medicine
validity
World Health Organization
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Summary:The World Health Organization suggested that the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni among 7- to 14-year-olds be used to guide treatment strategies in endemic areas. This study explores how well the prevalence in that age group predicted the overall prevalence in the community in data from stool examinations (Kato–Katz method) from 180000 people in 3 municipalities in Brazil in 1984 and 1985. The median prevalence was higher in 1984, before community treatment was introduced. There was a strong relationship between the prevalence among 7- to 14-year-olds and the overall prevalence in the community. We present sensitivities and positive predictive values for the use of prevalence in the indicator group to select communities for mass treatment as recommended by WHO. For a range of assumptions sensitivity and positive predictive value were never both above 80%. We suggest that the estimates of validity presented in this paper inform future evaluations of strategies for S. mansoni control.
ISSN:0031-1820
1469-8161
DOI:10.1017/S0031182099006733