Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
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Positive rates for Enterobius vermicularis eggs among preschool children in Yeosu-si, Jeollanam-do, Korea (2017-2021)

  • Myoung-Ro Lee (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Hee-Eun Shin (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Seon-Ok Back (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Young-Ju Lee (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Jung-Won Ju (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Chun Soon Park (Yeosu-si Public Health Center) ;
  • Hee-Il Lee (Division of Vectors and Parasitic Diseases, Korea Diseases Control and Prevention Agency)
  • Received : 2022.09.13
  • Accepted : 2022.12.22
  • Published : 2023.02.28
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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the positive rates for Enterobius vermicularis eggs among preschool children in Yeosu-si, Jeollanam-do, the Republic of Korea (Korea) over a period of 5 years (2017-2021). Perianal swab samples, obtained using cellotape, from 10,392 preschool children in 26 districts were examined microscopically for E. vermicularis eggs. The test results were notified through the local health center, and the families of children who tested positive were advised to provide them anthelmintics treatment. The annual positive rates were 5.0%, 5.2%, 4.4%, 2.2%, and 1.0% in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively. The overall positive rate was higher in boys than in girls (P< 0.05), and children aged 5-7 years were at a higher risk of being infected than those aged 0-4 years (P< 0.05). Although the rates of infection by E. vermicularis in the survey area, Yeosu-si, were still in the 1% range , the results of this study suggest that they can be significantly reduced through continuous intervention centered around the test-treatment strategy.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We thank the person in charge of the Yeosu Health Center for participating in sample collection for this study. This work was supported by a grant (6331-311-210-13, 2021) from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Republic of Korea.

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