[Surveillance on the prevalence of soil-transmitted nematode infection in Fujian in 2006-2010].

Objective To analyze the prevalent trend of soil-transmitted nematode infection in Fujian Province during the past 5 year surveillance and evaluate the control effect.Methods From 2006 to 2010,fecal samples of the inhabitants of 3 years old and above were collected every November and examined for intestinal helminth eggs by the modified Kato' s thick smear technique at the 2 surveillance sites:Punan village of Zhangzhou and Gushan village of Shaowu.Cellophane tapes were used to detect pinworm eggs for children aged 3-12.Soil samples were also collected from vegetable field,lavatory,courtyard and kitchen of 20 randomly selected families(in 2 villages) each with stool egg-positive findings and examined for ascaris eggs by a modified saturated sodium nitrate floatation method.Results The prevalence of soil-transmitted nematode infection at the surveillance sites decreased from 45.3%(946/2 087) in 2006 to 15.1%(226/1 494) in 2010,with a reduction of 66.6%.Among the infected subjects,hookworm infection occupied 75%-85%,while ascaris or trichuris infections each accounted for less than 10%.In terms of infection intensity, 65.2%-85.5%of the hookworm infection was light,and majority of the infected subjects were farmers.The pinworm prevalence in children were still high although it had dropped down from 46.1%(140/304) in 2006 to 29.8%(36/121) in 2010,declined by 35.4%.In the 5 years,totally 400 soil samples from 100 families were examined and 21 samples were found ascaris egg positive with viable eggs in only one sample.Conclusion The 5 year surveillance reveals a decreasing trend of the soil-transmitted nematode prevalence but shows a relatively high hookworm infection rate in the population and pinworm infection in children.