ArticleThe Lancet. Global health2019
Reassessment of the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in Sri Lanka to enable a more focused control programme: a cross-sectional national school survey with spatial modelling.
Article in The Lancet. Global health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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16 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Behavioural Determinants of Intestinal Nematode Infection Risk Among Children in a Post-Mass-Drug-Administration Setting in Sri Lanka: A Survey of Caregiver Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2026Article
- Residual Human Intestinal Nematode Infections Following Discontinuation of Mass Drug Administration in a Rural South Asian Setting: Implications for Deworming Surveillance.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2026Article
- Molecular taxonomic study ofFrontiers in parasitology · 2026Article
- Geostatistical analysis to guide treatment decisions for soil-transmitted helminthiasis control in Uganda.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Mathematical modeling of control strategies for the elimination of soil-transmitted helminthiases in Thailand.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Supporting policy action to reduce adolescent anaemia in South Asia.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Human intestinal nematode infections in Sri Lanka: A scoping review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Detection of human strongyloidiasis among patients with a high risk of complications attending selected tertiary care hospitals in Colombo, Sri Lanka using molecular and serological diagnostic tools.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- Lymphatic filariases and soil-transmitted helminthiases in Sri Lanka: the challenge of eliminating residual pockets of transmission.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Micronutrients deficiencies and its correlation with the soil-transmitted helminthic infections among children and non-pregnant women in Nepal: findings from Nepal national micronutrient status survey.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Characterization of antigens of Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm) eggs.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Effect of urbanization on zoonotic gastrointestinal parasite prevalence in endemic toque macaque (International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2022Article
- Role of Seasonal Variation on The Prevalence and Risk Factors of Trichuriasis Among the Aboriginal Community in Malaysia.Helminthologia · 2022Article
- Article
- Towards soil-transmitted helminths transmission interruption: The impact of diagnostic tools on infection prediction in a low intensity setting in Southern Mozambique.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
- Post-intervention epidemiology of STH in Bangladesh: Data to sustain the gains.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Sri Lanka, deworming programmes for soil-transmitted helminth infections became an integral part of school health in the 1960s, whereas routine antenatal deworming with mebendazole started in the 1980s. A 2003 national soil-transmitted helminth survey done among schoolchildren found an overall prevalence of 6·9%. In our study, we aimed to reassess the national prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections to enable implementation of a more focused control programme that targets smaller administrative areas at risk of continued transmission.
methodsWe did a cross-sectional, school-based, national survey using multistage stratified cluster sampling, covering all nine provinces as well as populations at high risk of soil-transmitted helminth infections living in urban slums and in plantation-sector communities. Our study population was children aged 5-7 years attending state schools. Faecal samples were collected and analysed with duplicate modified Kato-Katz smears. We modelled the risk of soil-transmitted helminth infection using generalised linear mixed-effects models, and we developed prevalence maps to enable informed decision making at the smallest health administrative level in the country.
findingsBetween Jan 23 and May 9, 2017, we recruited 5946 children from 130 schools; 4276 (71·9%) children provided a faecal sample for examination. National prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infection was 0·97% (95% CI 0·63-1·48) among primary schoolchildren. Prevalence in the high-risk communities surveyed was higher than national prevalence: 2·73% (0·75-6·87) in urban slum communities and 9·02% (4·29-18·0) in plantation sector communities. Our prevalence maps showed that the lowest-level health administrative regions could be categorised into low risk (prevalence <1%), high risk (prevalence >10%), or intermediate risk (1-10%) areas.
interpretationOur survey findings indicate that the national prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infection has continued to decline in Sri Lanka. On the basis of WHO guidelines, we recommend discontinuation of routine deworming in low-risk areas, continuation of annual deworming in high-risk areas, and deworming once every 2 years in intermediate-risk areas, for at least 4 years.
fundingTask Force for Global Health and WHO.
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