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• 1 2019-07-22T11:37:32-07:00 Soil Transmitted Helminths (STH) 10 plain 2019-07-24T03:31:53-07:00

  Soil Transmitted Helminths in not an uncommon illness throughout the world. However, STH is reported to have more of an impact on poor and marginalized communities, especially those that depend on their ability to work. 

  STH is thought to affect human productivity in terms of working, going to school, and carrying out everyday tasks. With constant reinfection communities are often burdened by illness and most epidemics are a result of a lack of treatment. The societal impact of STH is obvious throughout other literature, but some countries do not describe STH as epidemic. 

  Mexico:

  STH is a known parasitic infection throughout the world. Poor communities may experience more drastic effects when infected. A study done on a community in Colima, Mexico showed among those tested, housewives were the most at risk for developing an infection. Most houses within the community do have electricity but lack proper drainage, water, and hygienic systems that would separate our skin from the worms. 

  Within Latin America it is common among sustenance farmers to use human feces as fertilizer . Without human fertilizer most communities would become famished because they do not have access to other fertilizer alternatives. However using human feces as fertilizer would greatly reduce the amount of STH infections within a community. Another problem with STH is the cost of medication, although low it is not free. Within the poorest communities, STH incidence rates are highest due to their inability to treat. Lastly the problem of people not following strict medication lines means there is an issue in medication education for the communities. Basic foot ware would also create a barrier between our skin and STH within the soil. However within these communities, foot ware is not always available. The infographic at the bottom of the page represents the Fecal-Oral route of transmission and shows that with particular systems transmission is interrupted. 

  The data for STH is the amount of school aged children in need of preventive chemotherapy.  I choose to focus on the pattern changes among children due to their ability to be co-infected with all three worms simultaneously. Communities greatly infected with STH, especially poor communities are affected in school, work, and even in everyday life. In an environment that constantly continues the cycle of transmission among its community members, sanitation systems are needed immediately.