title: Rationale for Quality Assurance in Fecal Egg Monitoring of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis.
abstract: Substantial investment has been made into the once "neglected" tropical disease, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and into control programs that operate within a framework of mapping baseline disease distribution, measuring the effectiveness of applied interventions, establishing when to cease drug administration, and for posttreatment evaluations. However, critical to each of these stages is the determination of helminth infection. The limitations of traditional microscope-based fecal egg diagnostics have not provided quality assurance in the monitoring of parasite disease and suboptimal treatment regimes provide for the potential development of parasite resistance to anthelmintic drugs. Improved diagnostic and surveillance tools are required to protect therapeutic effectiveness and to maintain funder confidence. Such tools may be on the horizon with emergent technologies that offer potential for enhanced visualization and quality-assured quantitation of helminth eggs.
authors.affiliation: Centre for International Health, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David J L
authors.initials: DJL
authors.lastname: Hoekendijk
authors.affiliation: Centre for Bioengineering and Nanomedicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Philip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sowerby
mesh_terms: D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D010270:Parasite Egg Count / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D012987:Soil