The type and intensity of STH infection is relevant in understanding the disease burden of STH infections on children’s health
News from the KaziAfya study.
South Africa is experiencing a change in lifestyle and traditional dietary habits, causing a growing burden of non-communicable diseases (diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases). In addition to this growing burden of non-communicable diseases, communicable diseases (parasitic worm infections) still exist, especially in historically marginalised communities characterised by poverty, high unemployment, and lack of access to adequate sanitation and clean water. These communities foster the transmission and increase the risk of soil-transmitted helminth infections, especially in schoolchildren.
A total of 680 schoolchildren aged 6–12 years were examined for soil-transmitted helminth infections, physical activity, physical fitness and cardiovascular disease risk. The analyses showed that being infected was associated with lower grip strength scores. Surprisingly, infected children had higher cardiorespiratory fitness and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA). We observed no association between being infected and the clustered cardiovascular disease risk score. We observed apositive association between A. lumbricoides infection and MVPA. While T. trichiura was negatively associated with grip strength and positively associated with cardiorespiratory fitness and MVPA. This study corroborated previous studies regarding low grip strength in infected children. Furthermore, our findings contributed new insights on the importance of the type and intensity of helminth infection in understanding the disease burden of helminth infections on children’s health.
For further information: Nqweniso S, Walter C, du Randt R, Adams L, Beckmann J, Coulibaly JT, Dolley D, Joubert N, Long K, Müller I, Nienhaber M, Pühse U, Seelig H, Steinmann P, Utzinger J, Gerber M, Lang C (2023) Associations between soil-transmitted helminth infections and physical activity, physical fitness, and cardiovascular disease risk in primary schoolchildren from Gqeberha, South Africa. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 17(10): e0011664. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0011664