Mathematical inference on helminth egg counts in stool and its applications in mass drug administration programmes to control soil-transmitted helminthiases

Levecke, Bruno;Anderson, Roy M.;Berkvens, Dirk;Charlier, Johannes;Van Aelst, Stefan;et.al.
(2015) Advances in Parasitology — Vol. 87, p. 193-247 (2015)

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  • Levecke, BrunoDepartment of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
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  • Anderson, Roy M.Imperial College London, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health St Mary’s Campus, Norfolk Place, London, UK
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  • Berkvens, DirkUCLouvain
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  • Charlier, JohannesDepartment of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium
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  • Speybroeck, NikoUCLouvain
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  • Van Aelst, StefanDepartment of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, KU Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium
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Abstract
In the present study, we present a hierarchical model based on faecal egg counts (FECs; expressed in eggs per 1 g of stool) in which we first describe the variation in FECs between individuals in a particular population, followed by describing the variance due to counting eggs under a microscope separately for each stool sample. From this general framework, we discuss how to calculate a sample size for assessing a population mean FEC and the impact of an intervention, measured as reduction in FECs, for any scenario of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) epidemiology (the intensity and aggregation of FECs within a population) and diagnostic strategy (amount of stool examined (∼sensitivity of the diagnostic technique) and examination of individual/pooled stool samples) and on how to estimate prevalence of STH in the absence of a gold standard. To give these applications the most wide relevance as possible, we illustrate each of them with hypothetical examples.
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Levecke, B., Anderson, R. M., Berkvens, D., Charlier, J., Devleessschauwer, B., Speybroeck, N., Vercruysse, J., & Van Aelst, S. (2015). Mathematical inference on helminth egg counts in stool and its applications in mass drug administration programmes to control soil-transmitted helminthiases. Advances in Parasitology, 87, 193-247. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.apar.2015.01.001 (Original work published 2015)