CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES ›› 2023, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (1): 44-51.doi: 10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2023.01.007

• ORIGINAL ARTICLES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Surveillance of human soil-transmitted nematode infection in Anhui Province during 2016—2020

CAO Zhiguo*(), WANG Tianping, JIN Wei, GUO Jianduo, ZHU Lei, LIU Daohua, WANG Min, LI Qiyang, HU Mingchuang   

  1. Anhui Provincial Institute of Schistosomiasis Control, Hefei 230031, China
  • Received:2022-05-11 Revised:2022-06-05 Online:2023-02-28 Published:2023-02-23
  • Contact: * E-mail: ahzhiguo@126.com
  • Supported by:
    Special Support Plan for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talents of Anhui Province(2021-27);Key Research and Development Program of Anhui Province(2022e07020003)

Abstract:

Objective To understand the prevalence of soil-transmitted nematode (STN) infection in Anhui Province from 2016 to 2020 to provide scientific basis for formulating the STN control strategy. Methods The surveillance for STN was performed in Anhui Province according to the National Surveillance Program for Clonorchiasis and Soil-borne Nematodiasis (provisional version) during 2016—2020. A certain number of counties (cities, districts) were selected yearly as surveillance sites, each of which was further divided into 5 sectors according to its geographic location, i.e., east, west, south, north, and central. From each sector, one township was randomly selected, and an administrative village was selected from the township to conduct surveillance. In the sampled village, no less than 200 permanent residents over 3 years old were cluster sampled. Fecal samples (> 30 g) from the enrolled residents were collected and were examined for STN eggs using the modified Kato-Katz thick smear method (two slide-reading for each sample). Children aged 3-9 were additionally examined for Enterobius vermicularis eggs with the cellophane anal swab method. The infection rate and intensity of STN were calculated and descriptively analyzed. Chi-square test and Chi-square trend test were used to compare the infection rates. Results From 2016 to 2020, 6, 16, 14, 14 and 21 surveillance sites were selected, the STN infection rate in the population in the 5 years was 2.14% (129/6 032), 0.76% (125/16 409), 1.26% (185/14 704), 0.88% (132/14 982) and 0.58% (126/21 575), respectively. The infection rate showed an overall downward trend, with a decrease of 72.90% in 2020 compared to 2016. The differences between the years were statistically significant (χ2 = 143.68, P < 0.05). The infection rate of hookworm was 1.94% (117/6 032), 0.53% (87/16 409), 1.07% (158/14 704), 0.52% (78/14 982) and 0.43% (92/21 575), respectively, while that of Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and E. vermicularis was relatively low (0.01%-0.24%). Among the 71 surveillance sites in the province, the highest STN infection rate was found in Qianshan City (11.02%, 103/935) in 2016, followed by Guzhen County (4.22%, 43/1 018) in 2020; and there were 19 surveillance sites with infection rate greater than 1.00%, mainly distributed in northern Anhui, accounting for 26.76% (19/71) of all the surveillance sites. From 2016 to 2020, the STN infection rate in males was 1.98% (62/3 136), 0.67% (54/8 009), 0.99% (70/7 037), 0.95% (67/7 052), 0.53% (56/10 592) and in females was 2.31% (67/2 896), 0.85% (71/8 400), 1.50% (115/7 667), 0.82% (65/7 930), 0.64% (70/10 983), respectively, there was no significant differences between genders (χ2 = 0.82, 1.57, 0.73, 1.10; P > 0.05) except for 2018 (χ2 = 7.54, P < 0.05). The STN infection rate showed an increasing trend with age and decreasing trend with education levels. The highest infection rate was found in the age group of "≥ 71" and the illiterate and primary school education group, which was 1.73% (11/635), 1.19% (23/1 926), 2.70% (51/1 890), 1.68% (33/1 970), 1.00% (29/2 906) and 3.08% (110/3 567), 0.99% (111/11 263), 1.63% (160/9 794), 1.14% (117/10 235), 0.61% (81/13 345), respectively. For the STN specie compositions, the composition ratio of hookworm was the highest, which was 90.70% (117/129), 69.60% (87/125), 85.41% (158/185), 59.09% (78/132) and 73.02% (92/126), respectively. For infection severety degrees, mild infection accounted for the majority, while moderate infection and severe infection were rare. Conclusion During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the STN infection rate in Anhui Province showed a downward trend, being at a low prevalence status. Hookworm is the main infection species, and northern Anhui is the key area for STN control in the future.

Key words: Soil-transmitted nematode, Infection, Surveillance, Anhui Province

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