Geohelminthosis: one of the most ancient, prevalent and forgotten human parasites
Keywords:
geohelminths, prevalence, intensity, clinical manifestations, psychomotor development, immunomodulationAbstract
Introduction: The word geohelminths, and its semantic alternative, soil-transmitted helminths, designates a group of nematode parasites that cause infection in humans when they come into contact with moist and warm surfaces contaminated with their eggs or larvae. According to recent reports, STHs affect 1.5 billion people globally. From an epidemiological perspective, especially due to their prevalence, four are the most important geohelminths: Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and two hookworms (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus).
Objectives: To describe the most relevant historical, clinical and epidemiological aspects of soil-transmitted helminth infection and report on recent initiatives for its control.
Methods: Through an electronic search in the PubMed, Medline and Google Scholar databases, a review of articles on historical, clinical and epidemiological aspects of geohelminth infections published during the period 2000-2022 was carried out. Specifically, monographs and original articles dated prior to said interval were also consulted.
Results: Updated information on the selected topics is presented and analyzed with an academic and healthcare approach.
Conclusions: The control of soil-transmitted helminth infections in the specific conditions of Cuba must promote actions at two levels: at the national level, the socioeconomic and cultural achievements that allowed the decrease in the prevalence of these parasitosis during the last decades must be defended; At the local level, it is necessary to identify the communities in which the conditions that favor the greater spread of soil-transmitted helminth infections still exist.Downloads
References
Bethony J, Brooker S, Albanico M, Geiger SM, Diemert D, Hotez PJ. Soil transmitted helminth infections: ascariasis, trichuriasis, and hookworm. The Lancet 2006; 367:1521-32. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68653-4
Hotez PJ, Brindley PJ, Bethony JM. Helminth infections: the great neglected tropical diseases. J Clin Invest 2008;118:1311-21. DOI: https://doi:10.1172/JCI34261
Cox F. History of human parasitology. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2002;15:595-612. DOI: https://doi:10.1128/CMR.15.4.595-612.2002
Hotez P, Ottesen E, Fenwick A, Molyneux D. The neglected tropical diseases: the ancient afflictions of stigma and poverty and the prospects for their control and elimination. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2006;582:23-33. DOI: https://doi:10.1007/0-387-33026-7_3
De Silva NR, Brooker S, Hotez PJ, Montresor A, Engels D, Savioli L. Soiltransmitted helminth infections: updating the global picture. Trends Parasitol 2003;19:547-51. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/j.pt.2003.10.002
WHO. Global Tuberculosis report 2021. World Health Organization, Geneva. 2021 [acceso: 27/01/2023]. Disponible en: https://www.who.int/publications/digital/global-tuberculosis-report-2021/tb-disease-burden/incidence
WHO. Soil-transmitted helminth infections. World Health Organization, Geneva. 2022. [acceso: 27/01/2023]. Disponible en: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/soil-transmitted-helminth-infections
Hailu GG, Ayele ET. Assessment of the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections and associated habit and culture-related risk factors among primary schoolchildren in Debre Berhan town, Northeast Ethiopia. BMC Public Health. 2021;21:112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-10148-y
Cadmus SI, Akinseye VO, Taiwo BO, Pinelli EO, van Soolingen D, Rhodes SG. Interactions between helminths and tuberculosis 314 infections: Implications for tuberculosis diagnosis and vaccination in Africa. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020; 14:e0008069.315. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008069
Stillwaggon E. Living with uncertainty. Trends Parasitol 2012;28:261-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2012.04.006
Webb EL, Ekii AO, Pala P. Epidemiology and immunology of helminth–HIV interactions. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2012;7:245-53. DOI: https://doi:10.1097/COH.0b013e32835210cd
Bisetegn H, Debash H, Ebrahim H, Erkihun Y, Tilahun M, Feleke DG. Prevalence and determinant factors of intestinal parasitic infections and undernutrition among primary school children in North-Central Ethiopia: A school-based cross-sectional study. J Parasitol Res. 2023;2023:1-10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/2256910
Stephenson L, Latham C, Ottesen E. Malnutrition and Parasitic Helminth Infections. Parasitology. 2000;121:23-8. DOI: https://doi:10.1017/s0031182000006491
Nokes C, Grntham-McGregor SM, Sawyer AW, Cooper ES, Robinson BA, Bundy DAP. Moderate to heavy Trichuris trichiura affect cognitive function in Jamaican school children. Parasitology. 1992;104:539-47. DOI: https://doi:10.1017/s0031182000063800
Hotez PJ, Molyneux DH, Fenwick A, Kumaresan J, Ehrlich S, Jeffrey D. Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. N Engl J Med. 2007;357:1018-27. DOI: https://doi:10.1056/NEJMra064142
Humphries D, Nguyen S, Boakyec D, Wilson M, Cappello M. The promise and pitfalls of mass drug administration to control intestinal helminth infections. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2012;25:584-9. DOI: https://doi:10.1097/QCO.0b013e328357e4cf
Guyatt H. Do intestinal nemadodes affect productivity in adulthood? Parasitology Today. 2000;16:153-8. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/s0169-4758(99)01634-8
Yazdanbakhsh M, van den Biggelaar A, Maizels RM. Th2 responses without atopy: immunoregulation in chronic helminth infections and reduced allergic disease. Trends Immunol. 2001;22:372-7. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/s1471-4906(01)01958-5
Geiger SM; Massara CL, Bethony J, Soboslay PT, Carvalho OS, Correa R. Cellular responses and cytokine profiles in Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura infected patients. Parasite Inmunol. 2002;24:499-509. DOI: https://doi:10.1046/j.1365-3024.2002.00600.x
Fincham JE, Markus MB, Adams VJ. Could control of soil-transmitted helminthic infection influence the HIV/AIDS pandemic? Acta Tropica. 2003;86:315-33. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/s0001-706x(03)00063-9
Druilhe P, Tall A, Sokhna C. Worms can worsen malaria: towards a new means to roll back malaria? Trends Parasitol. 2005;21:359-62. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/j.pt.2005.06.011
Fonte L, Acosta A, Sarmiento ME, Ginori M, García G, Norazmi MN. COVID-19 lethality in Sub-Saharan Africa and helminth immune modulation. Front Immunol. 2020;11:574910. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.58916523.
Mc Sorley HJ, Maizels RM. Helminth Infections and Host Immune Regulation. Clin Microbiol Rev. 2012;25:585-608. DOI: http://doi:10.1128/CMR.05040-11
Maizels RM. Regulation of Immunity and allergy by helminth parasites. Allergy. 2020;75(3):524-34. DOI: https://doi:10.1111/all.13944
Kvalsving JD. Parasites, nutrition, child development and public policy. En: Crompton DWT, Montresor A, Nesheinm MC, Saviolli L, editors. Controlling disease due to helminthes infections. Geneva: World Health Organization. 2003. p:55-65. [acceso 9/03/2023]. Disponible en: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/8126
Stoll N. This wormy world. J Parasitol. 1947;85:392-6. [acceso 9/03/2023]. Disponible en: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20284977/
Steinmann P, Keiser J, Bos, R, Tanner M, Utzinger J. Schistosomiasis and water resources development: systematic review, meta-analysis, and estimates of people at risk. Lancet Infect. Dis. 2006;6:411-25. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(06)70521-7
Ottesen EA. Lymphatic filariasis: treatment, control and elimination. Adv. Parasitol. 2006;61:395-441. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/S0065-308X(05)61010-X
Ehrenberg JP, Ault SK. Neglected diseases of neglected populations: Thinking to reshape the determinants of health in Latin America and the Caribbean. BMC Public Health. 2005;5:119. DOI: https://doi:10.1186/1471-2458-5-119
Brooker S. Estimating the global distribution and disease burden of intestinal nematode infections: Adding up the numbers. Int J Parasitol. 2010;40:1137-44. DOI: https://doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2010.04.004
GBD 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators. Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet. 2016;388:1459-544. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31460-X
WHO. Fifty-fourth World Health Assembly Resolution WHA54. 19. Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth infections. 2001. [acceso 9/03/2023]. Disponible en: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/78794/ea54r19.pdf
Hotez PJ. The poverty-related neglected diseases: Why basic research matters. PLoS Biol. 2017;15:e2004186. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004186
Jourdan PM, Lamberton PHL, Fenwick A, Addiss DG. Soil-transmitted helminth infections. The Lancet. 2018;391:252-65. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31930X
Freeman MC, Akogun O, Belizario Jr V, Brooker SJ, Gyorkos TW, Imtiaz R, et al. Challenges and opportunities for control and elimination of soil-transmitted helminth infection beyond 2020. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2019;13:e0007201. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007201
Sanjurjo E, Rodríguez M, Bravo JR, Finlay CM, Silva LC, Gálvez MD. Encuesta Nacional de Parasitismo Intestinal. La Habana, Cuba: Ministerio de Salud Pública. 1984. IPK/MINSAP
Rojas L, Núñez FA, Aguiar H, Silva LC, Álvarez D, Martínez R, et al. Segunda encuesta nacional de infecciones parasitarias intestinales en Cuba, 2009. Rev Cubana Med Trop. 2012 [acceso 9/03/2023];64:15-21.. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0375-07602012000100002
Del Toro MA, Alonso ME. Morbimortalidad por EDA y su relación con algunos factores sociales políticos y económicos en las Américas. Rev Ciencias Médicas La Habana. 2004 [acceso 9/03/2023];10. Disponible en: http://www.cpicmha.sld.cu/hab/vol10_2_04/hab08204.htm
Escobedo AA, Cañete R, Núñez FA. Intestinal protozoan and helminth infections in the Municipality San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río, Cuba. Trop Doct. 2007;37:236-8. DOI: https://doi:10.1258/004947507782332991
Fonte L, Hernández Y, Domenech I, Fong A, Moreira Y, Méndez Y, et al. Motivos y componentes de una intervención para hacer descender índices de prevalencia e intensidad de infección por geohelmintos en La Corea, San Miguel del Padrón. Rev Cubana Med Trop. 2019 [acceso 9/03/2023];71. Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0375-07602019000300015
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Aquellos autores/as que tengan publicaciones con esta revista, aceptan los términos siguientes:
- Los autores/as conservarán sus derechos de autor y garantizarán a la revista el derecho de primera publicación de su obra, el cuál estará simultáneamente sujeto a la Licencia de reconocimiento de Creative Commons que permite a terceros compartir la obra siempre que se indique su autor y su primera publicación esta revista.
- Los autores/as podrán adoptar otros acuerdos de licencia no exclusiva de distribución de la versión de la obra publicada (p. ej.: depositarla en un archivo telemático institucional o publicarla en un volumen monográfico) siempre que se indique la publicación inicial en esta revista.
- Se permite y recomienda a los autores/as difundir su obra a través de Internet (p. ej.: en archivos telemáticos institucionales o en su página web) antes y durante el proceso de envío, lo cual puede producir intercambios interesantes y aumentar las citas de la obra publicada. (Véase El efecto del acceso abierto).
