The Global Prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis Infection

Abstract

Strongyloidiasis is a common neglected tropical disease in tropical and sub-tropical climatic zones. At the worldwide level, there is high uncertainty about the strongyloidiasis burden. This uncertainty represents an important knowledge gap since it affects the planning of interventions to reduce the burden of strongyloidiasis in endemic countries. This study aimed to estimate the global strongyloidiasis prevalence. A literature review was performed to obtain prevalence data from endemic countries at a worldwide level from 1990 to 2016. For each study, the true population prevalence was calculated by accounting for the specificity and the sensitivity of testing and age of tested individuals. Prediction of strongyloidiasis prevalence for each country was performed using a spatiotemporal statistical modeling approach. The country prevalence obtained from the model was used to estimate the number of infected people per country. We estimate the global prevalence of strongyloidiasis in 2017 to be 8.1% (95% CI: 4.2–12.4%), corresponding to 613.9 (95% CI: 313.1–910.1) million people infected. The South-East Asia, African, and Western Pacific Regions accounted for 76.1% of the global infections. Our results could be used to identify those countries in which strongyloidiasis prevalence is highest and where mass drug administration (MDA) should be deployed for its prevention and control.

The global progress of soil-transmitted helminthiases control in 2020 and World Health Organization targets for 2030

“…Moreover, the global prevalence of strongyloidiasis has long been underestimated due to the poor sensitivity of the diagnostic methods that are usually used for assessing the prevalence of STH [36]. Recent estimates based on mathematical models, accounting for the (in)accuracy of the diagnostics used for prevalence surveys suggest a much higher prevalence than previously estimated [37].…”

“…stercoralis improves, it may be that PC for this parasite infection is found to be warranted in more countries. In this case, the existing infrastructure could also provide ivermectin to school-age children [ 37 ]. This school-based intervention is not aimed at completely solving the problem of strongyloidiasis (which includes morbidity also in adults), but at providing a minimal intervention utilizing existing infrastructure and low-cost medicines.…”

Strongyloides stercoralis prevalence and diagnostics in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic

“…Strongyloidiasis is a soil-transmitted helminth infection that affects, according to largely varying estimates, between 30 million and 370 million people worldwide [ 1 , 2 ]. The two unique features of the helminth infection are the ability to cause autoinfection leading to persisting infection of its host and the free-living, non-parasitic life cycle in the environment.…”

“…In a review of available data until 2014, Schär and colleagues estimated the overall prevalence rates of S. stercoralis infection in South East Asia as follow: Cambodia: 23.6–25.6%; Indonesia: 4.2–6.3%; Lao PDR: 28.7–33.0%; Malaysia: 28.0–44.4%; Thailand: 26.0–28.2% [ 7 ]. In recent effort to model global S. stercoralis prevalence, an S. stercoralis infection prevalence between 10 and 15% has been estimated in Southeast Asian countries [ 2 ]. But a nation-wide survey in Cambodia detected a overall prevalence of 30.5% in the rural population [ 8 ].…”

Effectiveness of Strongyloides Recombinant IgG Immunoreactive Antigen in Detecting IgG and IgG4 Subclass Antibodies for Diagnosis of Human Strongyloidiasis Using Rapid Immunochromatographic Tests

“…Human strongyloidiasis, which is transmitted through contact with contaminated soil, is an important intestinal parasitic disease that affects approximately 30 to 900 million people globally [1][2][3][4]. Strongyloides stercoralis is the main cause of infection, while Strongyloides fuelleborni and Strongyloides fuelleborni kellyi have also been reported in populations in Africa, Papua New Guinea, and Thailand [1,5].…”