Abstract
Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) comprise a group of helminth parasites that are included in the list of Neglected Tropical Diseases and require a passage through the soil to become infective. Several studies have detected that infection with STHs are associated with certain socioeconomic, environmental and soil characteristics. In Argentina, the presence of these parasites has been detected through a few point studies conducted in localities from 11 of the 23 provinces that comprise the country. The most important characteristics previously associated with the presence of STHs were identified and ranked through the use of an expert survey and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to construct a risk map of STHs specific for Argentina. Prevalence data from previous studies was used to validate the generated risk map. The map shows that half of Argentina, from the Central provinces to the North, contains localities with the characteristics necessary for the development of these parasites. The predicted map should serve as a useful tool for guiding the identification of survey areas for the generation of baseline data, detecting hotspots of infection, planning and prioritizing areas for control interventions, and eventually performing post-implementation surveillance activities.
Highlights
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are endemic in tropical and subtropical areas of the world and include 20 diseases [1]
A literature review was performed in order to identify the most important factors associated to the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) infections and the main ones are summarized in Table 1 [13,20,21,22,25,26]
Twenty-two experts on STH participated in the survey developed for the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in order to determine their importance in relation to the presence of STH infection
Summary
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are endemic in tropical and subtropical areas of the world and include 20 diseases [1]. The species that compose this group may be divided into those that infect through the fecal-oral route, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, and those that infect via penetration of the skin, the hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus) and Strongyloides stercoralis. This last species is not included in the list due to certain unique characteristics that make it hard to detect, quantify and treat [2] using World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) comprise a group of helminth parasites that are included in the list of Neglected Tropical Diseases and require a passage through the soil to become infective. In Argentina, the presence of these parasites has been detected through a few point studies conducted in localities from 11 of the 23 provinces that comprise the country
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