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Washington: A recent study in rural Kenya has explored the effects of water quality, sanitation, hand washing and nutritional interventions due to the increasing frequency of intestinal and Giardia infections .
The results showed that water treatment alone was enough to reduce by 18% infection rates of roundworms (Ascaris lumbricoides). The addition of sanitation and hand washing brought the reduction to 22%. The other parasitic infections examined showed no significant reduction in interventions.
According to the study published in the journal "PLOS Medicine", it is possible to significantly reduce roundworm infections by simply improving the treatment and quality of drinking water in risk areas
Worm infections and intestinal protozoa affect more than one billion children worldwide and are badociated with stunted growth and reduced cognitive development. These parasites often reside in soil and in contaminated drinking water or fecally contaminated surfaces and cause common infections in children in resource-limited areas.
High rates of reinfection have prevented school-based mbad drug programs from controlling the transmission of these parasitic infections. The authors of the study hypothesized that improved water quality, sanitation, hygiene and / or nutrition could interrupt the environmental transmission of parasites, but few trials evaluating these interventions have made it possible to measure actual infections.
Unlike aggressive medical treatment programs, approaches to water treatment, sanitation and hand washing represent a sustainable approach to disease control.
"Of all the interventions we tested, we were extremely surprised to find that water treatment appeared to be the most effective way to reduce roundworm infections. Water treatment is a relatively unexplored strategy for fighting intestinal worms. At least 800 million people worldwide are infected with a roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides). Even a relative reduction of 18% in water treatment interventions could have a major beneficial impact. Our study also suggests that water treatment could complement large-scale deworming delivery programs as part of the global effort to eliminate roundworm infections, "said Amy Pickering, the first author of the study.
With re-infection rates as high as 94% after anthelmintic treatment for roundworm infections, a combined approach to mbad drug administration and environmental controls (water, sanitation, hygiene) could be essential to overcoming these endemic infections, concluded Researchers.
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