Trial reportPLoS neglected tropical diseases2023
A general framework to support cost-efficient fecal egg count methods and study design choices for large-scale STH deworming programs-monitoring of therapeutic drug efficacy as a case study.
Trial report in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03465488 (Validation of Both Automated Quality Assured Egg Counting System and Molecular Markers for Monitoring the Spread of Anthelmintic Resistance.), which is not on this map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Validation of Both Automated Quality Assured Egg Counting System and Molecular Markers for Monitoring the Spread of Anthelmintic Resistance.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- An intuitive sampling framework for setting-specific decision-making in soil-transmitted helminthiasis control programs.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Cost-effectiveness of soil-transmitted helminthiasis intervention programmes: A scoping review.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Triclabendazole and Other Fasciolicides: Resistance ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- An artificial intelligence-powered digital pathology platform to support large-scale deworming programs against soil-transmitted helminthiasis and intestinal schistosomiasis in resource-limited settings.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Resistance evaluation and surveillance initiative for schistosomiasis treatment: study protocol for the RESIST project.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Epidemiology and Current Challenges of Human Schistosomiasis Along the Shabelle River, Somali Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia.Acta parasitologica · 2025Article
- Detecting soil-transmitted helminth and Schistosoma mansoni eggs in Kato-Katz stool smear microscopy images: A comprehensive in- and out-of-distribution evaluation of YOLOv7 variants.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- All that glitters is not gold: An interpretive framework for diagnostic test evaluation using Ascaris lumbricoides as a conceptual example.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Artificial intelligence-based digital pathology for the detection and quantification of soil-transmitted helminths eggs.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Improving the Cost-efficiency of Preventive Chemotherapy: Impact of New Diagnostics on Stopping Decisions for Control of Schistosomiasis.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- Predicting the risk and speed of drug resistance emerging in soil-transmitted helminths during preventive chemotherapy.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Article
- Formalin-fixed stool improves the performance of the Kato-Katz method.Veterinary world · 2024Article
- A general framework to support cost-efficient survey design choices for the control of soil-transmitted helminths when deploying Kato-Katz thick smear.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Two-stage lot quality assurance sampling framework for monitoring and evaluation of neglected tropical diseases, allowing for imperfect diagnostics and spatial heterogeneity.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
29 authors at 15 institutions in 11 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSoil-transmitted helminth (STH) control programs currently lack evidence-based recommendations for cost-efficient survey designs for monitoring and evaluation. Here, we present a framework to provide evidence-based recommendations, using a case study of therapeutic drug efficacy monitoring based on the examination of helminth eggs in stool.
methodsWe performed an in-depth analysis of the operational costs to process one stool sample for three diagnostic methods (Kato-Katz, Mini-FLOTAC and FECPAKG2). Next, we performed simulations to determine the probability of detecting a truly reduced therapeutic efficacy for different scenarios of STH species (Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and hookworms), pre-treatment infection levels, survey design (screen and select (SS); screen, select and retest (SSR) and no selection (NS)) and number of subjects enrolled (100-5,000). Finally, we integrated the outcome of the cost assessment into the simulation study to estimate the total survey costs and determined the most cost-efficient survey design. PRINCIPAL
findingsKato-Katz allowed for both the highest sample throughput and the lowest cost per test, while FECPAKG2 required both the most laboratory time and was the most expensive. Counting of eggs accounted for 23% (FECPAKG2) or ≥80% (Kato-Katz and Mini-FLOTAC) of the total time-to-result. NS survey designs in combination with Kato-Katz were the most cost-efficient to assess therapeutic drug efficacy in all scenarios of STH species and endemicity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We confirm that Kato-Katz is the fecal egg counting method of choice for monitoring therapeutic drug efficacy, but that the survey design currently recommended by WHO (SS) should be updated. Our generic framework, which captures laboratory time and material costs, can be used to further support cost-efficient choices for other important surveys informing STH control programs. In addition, it can be used to explore the value of alternative diagnostic techniques, like automated egg counting, which may further reduce operational costs.
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03465488.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.