Molecular monitoring of the therapeutic effect of Albendazole on Ascaris lumbricoides and Ancylostoma duodenale infected children using conventional multiplex PCR

Abstract

Soil-transmitted helminths (geohelminths) belong to the group of neglected tropical diseases. This assembly of infectious diseases include parasites namely A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, and the two hookworm species, A. duodenale and N. americanus causing an extensive variety of clinical symptoms and signs. S. stercoralis is one of the most important and often neglected additional STH affecting 10-40% of the population mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia [1]. Geohelminths can affect human health either directly by damaging the internal mucosa of the gut and feeding on host's blood and serum, or indirectly through production of inflammatory cytokines that affect appetite and food intake of hosts especially children [2]. Both mechanisms are a dual burden of parasitic infection leading to malabsorption with drastic deficiencies in macro and micronutrients which in turn leads to a malnutrition state that increases susceptibility to infection by inducing alterations in host immune function. These factors not only affect the physical development of children, but also they impair their cognitive development leading to retarded academic performance [3]. Geohelminths are transmitted by a fecal-oral route, which explains its high rate of prevalence in areas deprived of proper socioeconomic development and/or lack of proper sanitary environmental health conditions; criteria known to be present in low and middle income countries, including Egypt [4]. In developing countries, these worms continue to represent an actual health problem infecting millions of people and exhausting its health budget annually. Globally, the infection with at least one species of geohelminths occurred in more than a billion patients. Most of them are those living in low income countries deprived of education, health