Evaluation of morbidity in Schistosoma mansoni-positive primary and secondary school children after four years of mass drug administration of praziquantel in western Kenya

Table 1 Demographics and prevalence of other parasitic diseases in Schistosoma mansoni-positive children by age group at baseline and year five

	Schistosoma mansoni positive
	Baseline	Year five	P-value
All ages	n = 295	n = 69
Schistosomiasis prevalence	295/295 (100%)	69/368 (18.8%)	0.000^*
Median age (years)	13 (6–18)	13 (7–18)	0.180
Female n (%)	153 (51.9)	33 (47.8)	0.594
Malaria n (%)	118 (40.0)	31 (44.9)	0.494
EPG – Median (range)	80 (30–1746)	12 (4–366)	0.000^*
Any STH	66 (22.4)	7 (10.1)	0.029^*
Ascaris lumbricoides	23 (7.80)	2 (2.90)	0.277
Trichuris trichiura	32 (10.9)	5 (7.3)	0.508
Hookworm	21 (7.1)	0	0.019^*
6–12 years old (Primary school)	n = 117	n = 32
Median age (years)	11 (6–12)	10 (7–12)	0.502
Female n (%)	63 (53.9)	14 (43.8)	0.326
Malaria n (%)	60 (51.3)	18 (56.3)	0.691
EPG – Median (range)	96 (6–1746)	16 (4–132)	0.000^*
Any STH	33 (28.1)	6 (18.8)	0.366
A. lumbricoides	11 (9.40)	2 (6.3)	0.735
T. trichiura	18 (15.4)	4 (12.5)	0.786
Hookworm	8 (6.84)	0	0.202
13–18 years old (Secondary school)	n = 178	n = 37
Median age (years)	16 (13–18)	15 (13–18)	0.509
Female n (%)	90 (50.6)	19 (51.4)	0.999
Malaria n (%)	58 (32.6)	13 (35.1)	0.848
EPG – Median (range)	74 (4–1284)	8 (4–366)	0.000^*
Any STH	33 (18.5)	1 (2.70)	0.013^*
A. lumbricoides	12 (6.74)	0	0.228
T. trichiura	14 (7.87)	1 (2.70)	0.477
Hookworm	13 (7.30)	0	0.131

Differences among the study groups were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U test for continuous data and Fisher’s exact test for categorical data
Abbreviations: EPG Eggs per gram of feces, STH Soil transmitted helminths
An asterisk (^*) indicates statistical significance 1 year after four rounds of annual MDA with praziquantel

ISSN: 2049-9957