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The evaluation of potential global morbidity attributable to intestinal nematode infections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

M. S. Chan ,
G. F. Medley ,
D. Jamison  and
D. A. P. Bundy
M. S. Chan
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for the Epidemiology of Intestinal Parasitic Infections, Department of Biology, Imperial College, London SW7 2BB, UK
G. F. Medley
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for the Epidemiology of Intestinal Parasitic Infections, Department of Biology, Imperial College, London SW7 2BB, UK
D. Jamison
Affiliation:
School of Public Health, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
D. A. P. Bundy
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre for the Epidemiology of Intestinal Parasitic Infections, Department of Biology, Imperial College, London SW7 2BB, UK
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Summary

This paper presents a method of estimating the potential global morbidity due to human intestinal nematode infections (Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms), based on the observed prevalence of infection. The method relies on the observed relationships between prevalence and intensity of infection, and between worm burden and potential morbidity. This approach is shown to be sensitive to the precision of the original prevalence estimates and, in particular, to the degree of spatial heterogeneity in levels of infection. The estimates presented here indicate that several tens of millions of children are likely to suffer developmental consequences from infection, and suggest that the global disease burden of geohelminthiasis may be significantly greater than was supposed.

Keywords

intestinal nematodesinfection prevalenceworm burden distributionsglobal health significance
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 109 , Issue 3 , September 1994 , pp. 373 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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