STUDY CONFIRMS DRAMATIC REDUCTION IN BLOOD LOSS BY REGULAR DEWORMING OF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
Press Release
H/2891
STUDY CONFIRMS DRAMATIC REDUCTION IN BLOOD LOSS BY REGULAR DEWORMING OF SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN
19951228 GENEVA, 26 December (World Health Organization) -- A recent study on the health benefits of deworming children has found that a low-cost treatment regimen significantly reduces the amount of blood loss caused by intestinal worms.A single 500 mg dose of generic mebendazole, given three times yearly, was shown to significantly improve the nutritional status of school-age children even despite intense transmission, reinfection and incomplete deworming.
This was the finding of a major collaborative study conducted by a team from John Hopkins University (United States), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of Health of Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania.
The study estimated that treatment with mebendazole saved the loss of almost a quarter litre of blood per child annually at a cost of about 15 cents. That is a fraction of the cost of other drugs currently used for deworming.
Given that annual per capita health expenditures in many developing countries average less than $1 per year, the WHO experts say the potential cost savings from using mebendazole are dramatic.
"These results are a milestone, because they conclusively demonstrate that regular deworming is an effective, cheap and sustainable tool to control debility among children in endemic countries", says Dr. Lorenzo Savioli, a WHO expert in parasitology. "The challenge now is to utilize this tool and integrate it with other health interventions, especially micronutrient supplements, to improve the health of children."
Worm infections are among the most widespread health problems in the world, especially in developing countries. The WHO estimates that about 1,400 million people worldwide are infected with at least one of three kinds of intestinal helminths -- roundworm, whipworm or hookworms. Of these, some 200
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million suffer from diseases associated with infection. The hookworm is particularly debilitating. The worm attaches itself to the intestinal wall, causing iron deficiency anaemia by blood loss.
At least 40 per cent of the world's school-age children, 400 million in all, are infected with worms, and it is among this group that the adverse effects on growth, nutrition and learning ability are most evident.
In Zanzibar, where worm infections among school children are virtually universal, reducing physical fitness, school performance and growth, about 62 per cent of school children shown signs of growth stunting by early puberty and more than 50 per cent have iron deficiency anaemia.
The study dealt with 3,600 primary school children, grades 1 to 4, in 12 schools on Pemba Island, one of the two main islands of Zanzibar. The schools were randomly selected from 72 on the island which are participating in the National Helminth Control Programme.
The treated group showed marked nutritional improvement and the prevalence of iron deficiency declined by approximately 20 per cent. Overall, the incidence of severe anaemia was reduced by almost 40 per cent.
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