Assessment of schistosomiasis and intestinal helminths following mass drug administration in the Centre and Plateau Central regions of Burkina Faso

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is the most important waterborne disease in Sub-Saharan Africa. Transmission is governed by the spatial distribution of specific freshwater snails that act as intermediate hosts and human water contact patterns. In developing countries, such as Burkina Faso it remains a serious health problem, which management face important gaps. The main of theses gaps is the lack of reliable information about prevalence. Then, this study has been undertaken in order to determine the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the Centre and Plateau Central regions in Burkina Faso. A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in the Plateau Central and Centre regions of Burkina Faso to assess the status of schistosomiasis and intestinal worms among school age children. 1,455 school-age children were selected to participate to the study. Results shows that prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium in the Plateau Central and Centre regions were 4% and 0.6% respectively, with an overall prevalence of 2.3% (95% CI: 1.5% - 3.1%) in two regions. The following intestinal parasites were found in stools with various prevalence: Schistosoma mansoni 0.1% (95% CI: 0% - 0.3%) and Ancylostoma duodenale 0.1% (95% CI: 0% - 0.2%). The prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in the Centre and Plateau Central regions had been greatly reduced from the previous level in the published data since the large-scale population treatment initiated in 2004. The study confirmed the success in controlling the disease by preventive chemotherapy. However, the progress toward its elimination requires that the implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system focused on sentinel sites, and aiming at quantifying the impact of treatment, be gradually coupled with a monitoring system to identify any outbreak of residual transmission.

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Keywords: Schistosoma soil-transmitted helminths, mass drug administration, Burkina Faso