What does soil-transmitted helminth elimination look like? Results from a targeted molecular detection survey in Japan.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Japan is one of the few countries believed to have eliminated soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). In 1949, the national prevalence of Ascaris lumbricoides was 62.9%, which decreased to 0.6% in 1973 due to improvements in infrastructure, socioeconomic status, and the implementation of national STH control measures. The Parasitosis Prevention Law ended in 1994 and population-level screening ceased in Japan; therefore, current transmission status of STH in Japan is not well characterized. Sporadic cases of STH infections continue to be reported, raising the possibility of a larger-scale recrudescence of STH infections. Given that traditional microscopic detection methods are not sensitive to low-intensity STH infections, we conducted targeted prevalence surveys using sensiti

SUBMITTER: Hasegawa M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6950881 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature