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Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies
BACKGROUND: The Global Health community aims to eliminate soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections by 2030. Current preventive methods such as Mass Drug Administration, WASH practices, and health education needs to be complimented to halt transmission. We tracked the movement of hookworm-infected...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10371187/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37503260 http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.17.23292808 |
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author | Sumboh, Jeffrey Gabriel Agyenkwa-Mawuli, Kwasi Schwinger, Eyram Donkor, Irene Owusu Akorli, Jewelna E. B. Dwomoh, Duah Ashong, Yvonne Osabutey, Dickson Ababio, Felix Owusu Koram, Kwadwo Ansah Humphries, Debbie Cappello, Michael Kwofie, Samuel K. Wilson, Michael D. |
author_facet | Sumboh, Jeffrey Gabriel Agyenkwa-Mawuli, Kwasi Schwinger, Eyram Donkor, Irene Owusu Akorli, Jewelna E. B. Dwomoh, Duah Ashong, Yvonne Osabutey, Dickson Ababio, Felix Owusu Koram, Kwadwo Ansah Humphries, Debbie Cappello, Michael Kwofie, Samuel K. Wilson, Michael D. |
author_sort | Sumboh, Jeffrey Gabriel |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: The Global Health community aims to eliminate soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections by 2030. Current preventive methods such as Mass Drug Administration, WASH practices, and health education needs to be complimented to halt transmission. We tracked the movement of hookworm-infected and non-infected persons and investigated soil factors in the places they frequented within an endemic community to further understand the role of human movement and sources of infections. METHODS: 59 positive and negative participants wore GPS tracking devices for 10 consecutive days and their movement data captured in real time. The data was overlaid on the community map to determine where each group differentially spent most of their time. Soil samples were collected from these identified sites and other communal places. Physical and chemical properties were determined for each sample using standard methods and helminth eggs cultured into larvae using the Baermann technique. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine associations between larvae counts and soil factors. Helminth species were identified with metagenomic sequencing and their distributions mapped to sampling sites in the community. RESULTS: The study found that there was no significant difference in the average larvae counts in soil between sites assessed by infected and non-infected participants (P=0.59). However, soil factors, such as pH, carbon and sandy-loamy texture were associated with high larvae counts (P<0.001) while nitrogen and clay content were associated with low counts(P<0.001). The dominant helminth species identified were Panagrolaimus superbus (an anhydrobiotic helminth), Parastrongyloides trichosuri (a parasite of small mammals), Trichuris trichuria (whipworm), and Ancylostoma caninum (dog hookworm). Notably, no Necator americanus was identified in any soil sample. CONCLUSION: This study provides important insights into the association between soil factors and soil-transmitted helminths. These findings contribute to our understanding of STH epidemiology and support evidence-based decision-making for elimination strategies. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10371187 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-103711872023-07-27 Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies Sumboh, Jeffrey Gabriel Agyenkwa-Mawuli, Kwasi Schwinger, Eyram Donkor, Irene Owusu Akorli, Jewelna E. B. Dwomoh, Duah Ashong, Yvonne Osabutey, Dickson Ababio, Felix Owusu Koram, Kwadwo Ansah Humphries, Debbie Cappello, Michael Kwofie, Samuel K. Wilson, Michael D. medRxiv Article BACKGROUND: The Global Health community aims to eliminate soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections by 2030. Current preventive methods such as Mass Drug Administration, WASH practices, and health education needs to be complimented to halt transmission. We tracked the movement of hookworm-infected and non-infected persons and investigated soil factors in the places they frequented within an endemic community to further understand the role of human movement and sources of infections. METHODS: 59 positive and negative participants wore GPS tracking devices for 10 consecutive days and their movement data captured in real time. The data was overlaid on the community map to determine where each group differentially spent most of their time. Soil samples were collected from these identified sites and other communal places. Physical and chemical properties were determined for each sample using standard methods and helminth eggs cultured into larvae using the Baermann technique. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine associations between larvae counts and soil factors. Helminth species were identified with metagenomic sequencing and their distributions mapped to sampling sites in the community. RESULTS: The study found that there was no significant difference in the average larvae counts in soil between sites assessed by infected and non-infected participants (P=0.59). However, soil factors, such as pH, carbon and sandy-loamy texture were associated with high larvae counts (P<0.001) while nitrogen and clay content were associated with low counts(P<0.001). The dominant helminth species identified were Panagrolaimus superbus (an anhydrobiotic helminth), Parastrongyloides trichosuri (a parasite of small mammals), Trichuris trichuria (whipworm), and Ancylostoma caninum (dog hookworm). Notably, no Necator americanus was identified in any soil sample. CONCLUSION: This study provides important insights into the association between soil factors and soil-transmitted helminths. These findings contribute to our understanding of STH epidemiology and support evidence-based decision-making for elimination strategies. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 2023-07-23 /pmc/articles/PMC10371187/ /pubmed/37503260 http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.17.23292808 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. |
spellingShingle | Article Sumboh, Jeffrey Gabriel Agyenkwa-Mawuli, Kwasi Schwinger, Eyram Donkor, Irene Owusu Akorli, Jewelna E. B. Dwomoh, Duah Ashong, Yvonne Osabutey, Dickson Ababio, Felix Owusu Koram, Kwadwo Ansah Humphries, Debbie Cappello, Michael Kwofie, Samuel K. Wilson, Michael D. Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title | Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title_full | Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title_fullStr | Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title_full_unstemmed | Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title_short | Investigating Environmental Determinants of Soil-Transmitted Helminths Transmission using GPS Tracking and Metagenomics Technologies |
title_sort | investigating environmental determinants of soil-transmitted helminths transmission using gps tracking and metagenomics technologies |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10371187/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37503260 http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.17.23292808 |
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