NUTRITIONAL IMPACT OF INTESTINAL HELMINTHIASIS DURING THE HUMAN LIFE CYCLE

Abstract

Poor people in developing countries endure the burden of disease caused by four common species of soil-transmitted nematode that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract. Disease accompanying these infections is manifested mainly as nutritional disturbance, with the differing infections having their deleterious effects at different phases during the human life cycle. Reduced food intake, impaired digestion, malabsorption, and poor growth rate are frequently observed in children suffering from ascariasis and trichuriasis. Poor iron status and iron deficiency anemia are the hallmarks of hookworm disease. The course and outcome of pregnancy, growth, and development during childhood and the extent of worker productivity are diminished during hookworm disease. Less is known about the impact of these infections in children under 2 years of age. The severity of disease caused by soil-transmitted nematodes has consistently been found to depend on the number of worms present per person. Cost-effective measures based on highly efficacious anthelminthic drugs are now available to reduce and control disease caused by these infections.

Factors influencing growth and intestinal parasitic infections in preschoolers attending philanthropic daycare centers in Salvador, Northeast Region of Brazil

“…Of the helminths identified, A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura were the most prevalent; infection with hookworm was negligible (< 1%). Infection intensity for these two helminths -A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura -was moderate to heavy in 50% of the infected children contributing to an increased risk of morbidity 19 . No significant association was found between age group and infection with helminths and other intestinal parasites, probably due to the narrow age range of the sample.…”

Ascaris and ascariasis

“…As calculated by Chan [3], the DALYs lost due to ascariasis are 10. While Ascaris is most prevalent in areas of low socioeconomic status and thus poverty and malnutrition, studies indicate that Ascaris infection exerts a chronic influence on host nutrition [54]. Despite this, various intervention and clinical studies, the majority of which are focused on school children, demonstrated that infection is associated with appetite loss [55], lactose maldigestion [56] and impaired weight gain [55,57].…”

Point-of-care mobile digital microscopy and deep learning for the detection of soil-transmitted helminths and Schistosoma haematobium

“…Together, these poverty-related infections result in over 415,000 annual deaths and the loss of 43.5 million daily-adjusted life years [4]. Compared with other age groups, preschool, school-aged and adolescent children tend to harbor higher numbers of parasites, resulting in impaired growth and development, diminished physical fitness and decreased neurocognitive abilities [5]. Hookworms and schistosomiasis also represent a significant cause of maternal morbidity and pregnancy complications [6,7].…”