Seroprevalence of Strongyloides Stercoralis Infection in a South Indian Adult Population

Overview

Journal PLoS Negl Trop Dis

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Tropical Medicine

Date 2022 Jul 20

PMID 35857754

Authors

Saravanan Munisankar

Anuradha Rajamanickam

Suganthi Balasubramanian

Satishwaran Muthusamy

Chandra Kumar Dolla

Pradeep Aravindan Menon

Ponnuraja Chinnayan

Christopher Whalen

Paschaline Gumne

Inderdeep Kaur

Varma Nadimpalli

Akshay Deverakonda

Zhenhao Chen

John David Otto

Tesfalidet Habitegiyorgis

Harish Kandaswamy

Thomas B Nutman

Subash Babu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of Strongyloides stercoralis infection is estimated to be 30-100 million worldwide, although this an underestimate. Most cases remain undiagnosed due to the asymptomatic nature of the infection. We wanted to estimate the seroprevalence of S. stercoralis infection in a South Indian adult population.

Methods: To this end, we performed community-based screening of 2351 individuals (aged 18-65) in Kanchipuram District of Tamil Nadu between 2013 and 2020. Serological testing for S. stercoralis was performed using the NIE ELISA.

Results: Our data shows a seroprevalence of 33% (768/2351) for S. stercoralis infection which had a higher prevalence among males 36% (386/1069) than among females 29.8% (382/1282). Adults aged ≥55 (aOR = 1.65, 95% CI: 1.25-2.18) showed higher adjusted odds of association compared with other age groups. Eosinophil levels (39%) (aOR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.19-1.74) and hemoglobin levels (24%) (aOR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.11-1.53) were significantly associated with S. stercoralis infection. In contrast, low BMI (aOR = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.82-1.61) or the presence of diabetes mellitus (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 0.83-1.69) was not associated with S. stercoralis seropositivity.

Conclusions: Our study provides evidence for a very high baseline prevalence of S. stercoralis infection in South Indian communities and this information could provide realistic and concrete planning of control measures.

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