Revista de enfermedades tropicales y salud pública

Abstracto

Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infection among Elementary Schoolchildren in Bali, Indonesia

Putu Sutisna*, Nengah Kapti, Made Sudarmaja, Kadek Swastika, Dewa Putu Widjana

Soil-transmitted helminth infection is endemic in Bali, affecting adult people and preschool-age and school-age children. Surveys done during 1979-2000 on different groups of people in urban and rural places of Bali have found quite a high infection prevalence of Ascaris, Trichuris, and hookworm. Surveys carried out during 2002-2010 on elementary school children in rural villages of Badung and Gianyar districts have also found a similar high prevalence of Ascaris, Trichuris, and hookworm. Intensity of infection of Ascaris and Trichuris in elementary schoolchildren was mostly light to moderate, but a portion of the schoolchildren had heavy infection with the two species. A survey done on elementary schoolchildren that were found infected with Ascaris and Trichuris has shown reinfection of Ascaris occurred two months and three months, respectively, after anthelmintic treatment, while reinfection of Trichuris occurred one month, two months, and three months, respectively, after anthelmintic treatment. The high prevalence and reinfection of STH indicate poor hygiene-sanitation of the rural communities that causes persistent pollution of soil with infective STH eggs. In the villages where we did the surveys, we found many households did not possess latrine and water supply, which was due to poverty. We stress the importance of regular prevention and control programs of STH infections particularly for elementary school children that should be jointly undertaken by the Bali provincial government and the central government, in the forms of regular anthelmintic treatment, health education, and improvement of hygiene sanitation.