[The results of a control program carried out on school children for intestinal parasites in Sanliurfa province, Turkey between the years of 2001 and 2005].
This paper presents a school-based deworming program carried out from 2001-2005. It began with baseline studies in 2001 which indicated that intestinal helminth infection was endemic among schoolchildren with a prevalence of 80%in shantytown schools and 53% in apartment district schools. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most frequently detected helminth (45%), followed by Trichuris trichiura (25-30%) and Hymenolepsis nana (10-15%) and Taenia species (5%). Also school children were very much affected by nutritional deficiencies such as prevalence of stunting (24%), underweight (25%) and anemia (45%). The parasite control project was begun in 2002 in which 40.000 school children were treated with a single dose of 500 mg mebendazole. This was followed by delivery of 100.000 doses of mebendazole to the school children during the 2003-2004 school-years. During the 2004-2005 school-years, 120.000 primary schoolchildren, 20.000 high school children, 10.00 rural schoolchildren and 50.000 women and children (1-7 years old) were treated with mebendazole for helminth infections. In October-2005, stool examinations were carried out again in the shantytown and apartment district schools and it was found that the prevalence of infection had declined to 35% in shantytown schools and 6.4% in apartment district schools. The rate of Ascaris lumbricoides infection had fallen to 17%, with the rate of Trichuris trichiura to 1% and that of Taenia species to 0%. In contrast, the rate of Hymenolepsis nana had increased to 21%. These results indicated that parasite control program was successful and should be continued.
Ulukanligil
Mustafa
M
Harran Universitesi Tip Fakültesi, Mikrobiyoloji Anabilim Dali, Sanliurfa. mulukan@harran.edu.tr
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000150:complications; D000969:Antinematodal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D002675:Child, Preschool; D019353:Endemic Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008463:Mebendazole / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015995:Prevalence; D012574:Schools; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology
D000969:Antinematodal Agents; D008463:Mebendazole