TY - JOUR AU - Werkman, Marleen AU - Wright, James E. AU - Truscott, James E. AU - Oswald, William E. AU - Halliday, Katherine E. AU - Papaiakovou, Marina AU - Farrell, Sam H. AU - Pullan, Rachel L. AU - Anderson, Roy M. PY - 2020 DA - 2020/06/08 TI - The impact of community-wide, mass drug administration on aggregation of soil-transmitted helminth infection in human host populations JO - Parasites & Vectors SP - 290 VL - 13 IS - 1 AB - Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are intestinal parasites estimated to infect over 1.5 billion people. Current treatment programmes are aimed at morbidity control through school-based deworming programmes (targeting school-aged children, SAC) and treating women of reproductive age (WRA), as these two groups are believed to record the highest morbidity. More recently, however, the potential for interrupting transmission by treating entire communities has been receiving greater emphasis and the feasibility of such programmes are now under investigation in randomised clinical trials through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded DeWorm3 studies. Helminth parasites are known to be highly aggregated within human populations, with a small minority of individuals harbouring most worms. Empirical evidence from the TUMIKIA project in Kenya suggests that aggregation may increase significantly after anthelminthic treatment. SN - 1756-3305 UR - https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04149-4 DO - 10.1186/s13071-020-04149-4 ID - Werkman2020 ER -