[Degree of aggregation of Ascaris lumbricoides according to age groups after a massive antihelmilthic intervention].
OBJECTIVE
The degree of aggregation is determined for the whole population and for different age-specific strata and is used for assessing the reinfection rate after a mass antihelminthic chemotherapeutic intervention.


METHODS
The degree of aggregation of Ascaris lumbricoides is derived from prevalence and intensity of infection date obtained from an epidemiological study of ascariasis carried out in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, México by means of maximum likelihood estimation of the negative binomial distribution.


RESULTS
The results show that the distribution of the parasite for the whole population differs from the distribution of the parasite within each age-specific stratum; the reinfection rate is not uniform, the dynamics of the host-parasite association exhibits a clear destabilization of its endemic equilibrium after a first round of mass treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
It is suggested that the aggregation among the different age-groups is highly variable and hence the infection and reinfection rates are heterogeneous with regard to age; these states of the host-parasite system are transient. Given the heterogeneity of the infection, the selective treatment seems to be the most adequate strategy to diminish helminth infection rates.
Ruíz
A
A
El Colegio de México.
Ocampo
G
G
Soto
A
A
José
M V
MV
D017677:Age Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001196:Ascariasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017164:Ascaris lumbricoides; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D008954:Models, Biological; D015995:Prevalence; D012008:Recurrence
El grado de agregación de Ascaris lumbricoides según grupos de edad, después de una intervención antihelmíntica de masas.