Department of Microbiology, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Gyeongju 38066, Korea.
Department of Global Development and Entrepreneurship, Graduate School of Global Development and Entrepreneurship, Handong Global University, Pohang 37554, Korea.
Korean J Parasitol. 2022 Feb;60(1):51-56. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2022.60.1.51. Epub 2022 Feb 23.
Global efforts to identify groups at high risk for schistosomiasis have mainly concentrated on identifying their geographical distribution. Investigations on the socioeconomic characteristics of high-risk groups are relatively scarce. This study aimed to explore the associations between schistosomiasis among students and their parents' occupations. A nationwide cross-sectional survey was conducted targeting 105,167 students in 1,772 primary schools across Sudan in 2017. From these students, 100,726 urine and 96,634 stool samples were collected to test for Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni infection. A multi-level mixed effect analysis was used with age and sex as fixed factors, and school as a random factor. The odd ratios (ORs) of practicing open defecation among farmers' children were almost 5 times higher than their counterparts whose parents were government officials (OR=4.97, 95% confidence intervals (CIs): 4.57-5.42, P<0.001). The ORs of contacting water bodies for watering livestock among farmers' children were more than 4 times higher than those of children whose parents were government officials (OR=4.59, 95% CIs: 4.02-5.24, P<0.001). This study shows that schistosomiasis represents a disease of poverty and that farmers' children constituted a high-risk group.
全球范围内，识别血吸虫病高危人群的努力主要集中在确定其地理分布上。针对高危人群社会经济特征的调查相对较少。本研究旨在探讨学生血吸虫病与父母职业之间的关联。2017 年，在苏丹全国范围内对 1772 所小学的 105167 名学生进行了一项横断面调查。从这些学生中采集了 100726 份尿液和 96634 份粪便样本，以检测曼氏血吸虫和埃及血吸虫感染。采用多水平混合效应分析，以年龄和性别为固定因素，以学校为随机因素。农民子女中露天排便的比值比（OR）几乎是政府官员子女的 5 倍（OR=4.97，95%置信区间（CI）：4.57-5.42，P<0.001）。农民子女因给牲畜浇水而接触水体的比值比（OR）是政府官员子女的 4 倍多（OR=4.59，95%CI：4.02-5.24，P<0.001）。本研究表明，血吸虫病是一种贫困病，农民子女构成了一个高危人群。
