title: Maternal geohelminth infections are associated with an increased susceptibility to geohelminth infection in children: a case-control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children of mothers infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STH) may have an increased susceptibility to STH infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We did a case-control study nested in a birth cohort in Ecuador. Data from 1,004 children aged 7 months to 3 years were analyzed. Cases were defined as children with Ascaris lumbricoides and/or Trichuris trichiura, controls without. Exposure was defined as maternal infection with A. lumbricoides and/or T. trichiura, detected during the third trimester of pregnancy. The analysis was restricted to households with a documented infection to control for infection risk. Children of mothers with STH infections had a greater risk of infection compared to children of uninfected mothers (adjusted OR 2.61, 95% CI: 1.88-3.63, p<0.001). This effect was particularly strong in children of mothers with both STH infections (adjusted OR: 5.91, 95% CI: 3.55-9.81, p<0.001). Newborns of infected mothers had greater levels of plasma IL-10 than those of uninfected mothers (p=0.033), and there was evidence that cord blood IL-10 was increased among newborns who became infected later in childhood (p=0.060).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that maternal STH infections increase susceptibility to infection during early childhood, an effect that was associated with elevated IL-10 in cord plasma.
authors: Laboratorio de Investigaciones, Fundacion Ecuatoriana Para la Investigacion en Salud (FEPIS), Quinindé, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.
authors: Raaj S
authors: RS
authors: Mehta
authors: Alejandro
authors: A
authors: Rodriguez
authors: Martha
authors: M
authors: Chico
authors: Irene
authors: I
authors: Guadalupe
authors: Nely
authors: N
authors: Broncano
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Sandoval
authors: Fernanda
authors: F
authors: Tupiza
authors: Edward
authors: E
authors: Mitre
authors: Philip J
authors: PJ
authors: Cooper
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001196:Ascariasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D017164:Ascaris lumbricoides / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014257:Trichuriasis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology; D014258:Trichuris / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D016753:Interleukin-10