title: Epidemiology and control of Schistosomiasis and other intestinal parasitic infections among school children in three rural villages of south Saint Lucia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of parasitic infections and the efficacy of treatment among school children in rural villages of south Saint Lucia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 554 school children participated in this study. Parasitic infections were confirmed by using Kato- Katz method.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, 61.6% of the school children were infected by any parasitic infection. The helminths identified were Ascaris lumbricoides (15.7%), Hookworm (11.9%), Strongyloides (9.7%), Trichuris trichiura (4.7%), Schistosoma mansoni (0.6%), Taenia solium (0.8%) and Enterobius vermicularis (2.1%), Entamoeba coli (9.7%), Iodameba butschlii (5%), Entamoeba histolytica (1.1%), Giardia lamblia (1.8%) and Endolimax nana (2.1%). The control intervention included treatment with albendazole 400 mg and praziquantel 40 mg/kg as well as awareness campaigns. Post-interventional assessment showed the total prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection reduced from 61.6 to 3.6% with a cure rate of 94.2%, following the control methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, International American University, Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia. kuruprajini@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Rajini
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kurup
authors.forename: Gurdip S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Hunjan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D006376:Helminths / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007411:Intestinal Diseases, Parasitic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population; D019431:Saint Lucia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics