Assessing expanded community wide treatment for schistosomiasis: Baseline infection status and self-reported risk factors in three communities from the Greater Accra region, Ghana

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases Vol. 14; no. 4; p. e0007973
• Main Authors: Cunningham, Lucas J, Campbell, Suzy J, Armoo, Samuel, Koukounari, Artemis, Watson, Victoria, Selormey, Pamela, Stothard, J Russell, Idun, Bright, Asiedu, Manfred, Ashong, Yvonne, Adams, Emily R, Osei-Atweneboana, Mike Yaw
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 01.04.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age; Age groups; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Albendazole; Animals; Anthelmintics - administration & dosage; Biology; Biology and Life Sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Communicable Disease Control - methods; Control methods; Correlation analysis; Councils; Demographic variables; Demography; Diarrhea; Disease; Disease Transmission, Infectious - prevention & control; Dosage and administration; Drug therapy; Economics; Epidemiology; Factor analysis; Feces - parasitology; Ghana - epidemiology; Health risks; Helminthiasis; Humans; Industrial research; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Infections; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mass Drug Administration - methods; Mathematical models; Medical research; Medicine; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Population; Praziquantel; Prevalence; Public health; Risk analysis; Risk Factors; Schistosoma mansoni; Schistosomiasis; Schistosomiasis - epidemiology; Schistosomiasis - prevention & control; Social Sciences; Socioeconomic aspects; Socioeconomics; Soil; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Statistical models; Supervision; Tropical diseases; Urine - parasitology; Womens health; Young Adult; Ghana; United Kingdom > UK; Africa
• ISSN: 1935-2735; 1935-2727; 1935-2735
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0007973

This paper reports on the baseline prevalence and associated risk factor findings of a pilot, longitudinal study exploring community-wide treatment of schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, using albendazole plus praziquantel in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. From three communities, at least, 658 individuals were enrolled into the study via random household selection. Prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis and STH infection were determined from stool and urine samples with a questionnaire being administered in order to explore other morbidities and risk factors. Factor analysis of household demographic variables was undertaken to generate a socioeconomic score; this was then further categorised into tertiles. Proportional-odds cumulative logit generalised estimating equation (GEE) models were used to investigate categorical ordinal intensity of infection associations with morbidity. Separately, logistic GEE models were used to investigate risk factor associations with infection prevalence. Both Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni were prevalent in the three communities, with the prevalence of S. haematobium ranging from 3.3% (24/679; 95% CI = 1.9-4.7) to 19% (114/632; 95% CI = 15.8-22.2) and S. mansoni ranging from 30% (202/679; 95% CI = 26.5-33.5) to 78.3% (409/536; 95% CI = 74.7-81.9). The total prevalence of STH across all three sites was negligible at 1.3% (24/1847; 95% CI = 0.8-1.9) comprising mainly hookworm (10/1847). Multivariable statistical models indicated males to be 2.3 (95% CI = 1.7-3.3) times more likely to have a high intensity S. mansoni infection and 1.5 (95% CI = 1.1-2) times more likely to have a high intensity of S. haematobium infection compared to females. There was no significant difference in the likelihood of infection with S. mansoni between adults and school age children (SAC), however S. haematobium infections were found to be 2.5 (95% CI = 1.8-3.5) times more likely to occur in school age children than in adults. Multivariable statistical models (adjusted for age and sex) indicated an association between schistosomiasis and a number of self-reported morbidity indicators (notably diarrhoea and blood in stool and urine). Low socio-economic status was also associated with SCH infection (OR: 2; 95% CI = 1.3-3.2). The communities targeted by this study showed a range of Schistosoma prevalence's of infection, from hypo-endemic through to meso-endemic and hyper-endemic. The prevalence of SCH across the different age groups in the study locations highlights the large number of individuals currently being left out of the standard morbidity control method of annual treatment of the SAC.