The prevalence of schistosomiasis in school-aged children as an appropriate indicator of its prevalence in the community

Predictive Value of School-Aged Children's Schistosomiasis Prevalence and Egg Intensity for Other Age Groups in Western Kenya

“…The recommendations provide for targeted distribution of praziquantel (PZQ) based on the prevalence of infection in SAC. 3,[5][6][7] Areas where ≥ 50% of SAC have schistosome eggs detected in their stool are considered at high risk, and mass PZQ treatment should be provided to SAC yearly. Furthermore, adults in these areas, from special at-risk groups to the whole community, should also be treated.…”

Assessment of schistosomiasis in the semi-arid Northeast region of Brazil: the São Francisco River large-scale water transposition project

“…It recommends that vulnerable areas be mapped and surveyed for snail hosts and egg-positive people, aiming to prevent the establishment of transmission (3) . Furthermore, stool surveys should target school-aged children because the prevalence in that age group is a suitable indicator of the community prevalence (6) .…”

Directives for Schistosomiasis Control in Endemic Areas of Brazil

“…It takes into account the operational difficulties faced by the most troubled municipalities without compromising the programme main goals. Thus, stool surveys are targeted at school-aged children as their prevalence is a suitable indicator of the community prevalence level (Guyatt et al 1999;Rodrigues et al 2000;Pereira et al 2010). Treatment is indicated in case of egg-positive diagnosis in conformity with prescribed indications and contraindications.…”

“…This situation is exemplified in Table 4 showing baseline parasitological data from stool surveys carried out in representative localities of an endemic area of Pernambuco, extracted from Pereira et al (2010). Those data may be used to compare the three strategies shown here as regards diagnosis and treatment.…”

“…Parasitological data from whole populations and school-aged children in representative localities of an endemic area of schistosomiasis in Brazil. The data were extracted from Pereira et al (2010) It must be borne in mind that population coverage of 75.3%, as observed in the given example, is rarely achieved by the health teams in the endemic areas. In fact, stool surveys of whole populations in the highly endemic Rainforest Zone of Pernambuco from 2003 to 2006 reached 19.7% of the population at risk (Favre et al, 2009); more recently, from 2007 to 2010, the coverage in the same zone was increased by only 4 percentage points to 23.7% (MS, 2011).…”