Epidemiology, clinical morbidity and preventive chemotherapy for the control of strongyloidiasis in Indonesia\r
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The Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene at Saarland University and the Department of Parasitology at the Center for Tropical Medicine at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Indonesia are administering preventive chemotherapy to people living in high-prevalence regions of Indonesia to prevent strongyloidiasis. In addition, they are investigating the long-term health and economic impacts of this approach.\r
To this end, they are creating an epidemiological map of the prevalence in the population, are assessing the preventive chemotherapy from a clinical perspective and are preparing recommendations for diagnosing and preventing strongyloidiasis. \r
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Background information\r
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Strongyloidiasis is one of the most important non-communicable diseases in South-East Asia. It is estimated that over 600 million people worldwide are infected with the disease. It is caused by the Strongyloides stercoralis roundworm, a soil-transmitted helminth that leads to potentially life-threatening infections. However, there is still only limited data on strongyloidiasis, because even reference laboratories in Indonesia do not have the technical facilities they need to diagnose the disease. \r
The World Health Organization recommends conducting preventive chemotherapy with the anthelmintic ivermectin in areas with a prevalence of more than 10 per cent of the population.\r
The project partners already established PCR diagnostics for strongyloidiasis at the partner facility and in other laboratories in Indonesia in a previous project and launched a relevant diagnostic and training programme.\r
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Activities\r
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•\tInvestigating the prevalence of strongyloidiasis in different regions of Indonesia to identify pilot and control communities for the study\r
•\tAssessing the population’s level of knowledge about intestinal helminths and training clinical personnel and laboratory workers\r
•\tConducting preventive chemotherapy in 1,500 study participants in six villages, independent of symptoms or an infection\r
•\tAnalysing the prevalence and infection intensity of strongyloidiasis in the regions of the study\r
•\tImplementing study results in a ‘national deworming programme’\r
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Results \r
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The preventive chemotherapy for entire villages in Indonesia aims to reduce the prevalence, the infection intensity and, in turn, the morbidity caused by this infection in the villages with a prevalence of over 10 per cent of the population. In addition, the project generates knowledge about the burden of disease and the effect of the preventive chemotherapy. \r