Sustainable control of soil-transmitted helminths requires a combination of chemotherapy treatment and environmental interventions, including access to safe drinking water, sufficient water for hygiene, use of clean sanitation facilities, and handwashing (WASH). We quantified associations between home-, school-, and community-level WASH characteristics and hookworm infection—both prevalence and eggs per gram of stool (intensity)—among Togolese school children in the context of community-based chemotherapy treatments administered in the country from 2010 through 2014.

Since 2011, cohorts of schoolchildren in regions bordering Lake Victoria in Kenya and Tanzania have been investigated for morbidity caused by Schistosoma mansoni infection. Despite being neighbouring countries with similar lifestyles and ecological environments, Tanzanian schoolchildren had lower S. mansoni prevalence and intensity and they were taller and heavier, fewer were wasted and anaemic, and more were physical fit compared to their Kenyan peers.

The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) is a remarkable, far-reaching project in China. This study was conducted to assess the impact of TGD on changes in the ecological environment, snail distribution and schistosomiasis transmission in Dongting Lake area.

Original Source

The combination of deworming and improved sanitation or hygiene may result in greater reductions in soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infection than any single intervention on its own. We measured STH prevalence in rural Bangladesh and assessed potential interactions among deworming, hygienic latrines, and household finished floors.

Original Source

A systematic review and meta-analysis by Kathrin Ziegelbauer and colleagues finds that sanitation is associated with a reduced risk of transmission of helminthiases to humans.

Original Source

The importance of an uncontaminated water supply and proper sanitation in controlling enteric infections, as well as contributing to poverty eradication, has been recognized by the international community.