Individual predisposition, household clustering and risk factors for human infection with Ascaris lumbricoides: new epidemiological insights.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Much of our current understanding of the epidemiology of Ascaris lumbricoides infections in humans has been acquired by analyzing worm count data. These data are collected by treating infected individuals with anthelmintics so that worms are expelled intact from the gastrointestinal tract. Analysis of such data established that individuals are predisposed to infection with few or many worms and members of the same household tend to harbor similar numbers of worms. These effects, known respectively as individual predisposition and household clustering, are considered characteristic of the epidemiology of ascariasis. The mechanisms behind these phenomena, however, remain unclear. In particular, the impact of heterogeneous individual exposures to infectious stages has not b

SUBMITTER: Walker M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3082514 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature