• Chien-Wei Liao, Chung-Jung Fu, Cheng-Yan Kao, Yueh-Lun Lee, Po-Ching Chen, Ting-Wu Chuang, Toshio Naito, Chia-Mei Chou, Ying-Chie Huang, Idalina Bonfim, and Chia-Kwung Fan.
• Department of Molecular Parasitology and Tropical Diseases, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
• Afr Health Sci. 2016 Sep 1; 16 (3): 690697690-697.

BackgroundAlthough the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe (DRSTP) has undertaken school children-based deworming programs against intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) using a single dose of mebendazole annually since 2005, it remains unclear as to the outcome to date. The present study intends to investigate the recent IPIs status among school children living in capital areas of the DRSTP.MethodsA total of 252 school children (121 boys and 131 girls) of grades 4 and 5 from 4 primary schools located in the capital areas participated in the present study and their fresh fecal specimens were examined for the presence of any parasites using the merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde concentration method as conducted.ResultsThe overall prevalence of IPIs was 64.7% (163/ 252). No significant gender difference in prevalence between boys (67.8%) and girls (61.8%) was found (p = 0.3). The majority of school children were infected with a single species of parasite (55.8%). Altogether, 12 different intestinal parasite species were identified in DRSTP school children, of which 9 species were pathogenic and the remaining 3 were non-pathogenic.ConclusionImproving the detection method, sanitation facilities and personal hygiene as well as utilizing combined drugs are all important measures to greatly reduce IPIs in DRSTP school children.

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