5%) and 167 boys. Complete parasitological data (i.e., quadruplicate Kato-Katz thick smears, duplicate POC-CCA cassette tests, and duplicate urine filtrations) at the baseline survey before treatment were available for 242 children, 133 from Azagui�� M’Brom�� (55.0%) and 109 from Azagui�� Makougui��. There were 127 girls (52.5%) and 115 boys with a mean age of 3.2 years (range: 2 months KPT-330 buy to 5.5 years). Figure 1 Flowchart showing study participation. Three weeks after the administration of praziquantel, only 86 out of the 242 children had complete parasitological data. There were 43 girls (50.0%) and 43 boys with a mean age of 3.6 years (range: 15 months to 5 years). The two population groups (children with complete data records before and after treatment) were similar in terms of average age, sex, arithmetic mean FECs of S.

mansoni, and co-infection status (all p>0.05). S. mansoni and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections before Treatment Table 2 shows the baseline prevalence and intensity of S. mansoni infection, as assessed by Kato-Katz and POC-CCA. Among the 242 children with complete data records, 56 (23.1%) were found positive for S. mansoni by quadruplicate Kato-Katz thick smears. Most infections were of light intensity (n=40; 71.4%), whereas 12 children (21.4%) had a moderate (100�C399 EPG) and four children (7.1%) had a heavy infection (��400 EPG). The group arithmetic mean FEC was 23.4 EPG (95% confidence interval (CI): 13.0�C33.7 EPG). A single CCA(t?) test identified 83 children (34.3%) harboring active schistosome infections.

Table 2 Baseline prevalence of helminths according to diagnostic approach (n=242). The youngest child infected with S. mansoni, as determined by the presence of S. mansoni eggs in stool using the Kato-Katz technique, was 8 months. According to the CCA(t?) test results, the earliest infection was observed in a child aged 3 months. According to quadruplicate Kato-Katz thick smears before treatment, among the 242 preschool-aged children with complete data records, 22 (9.1%), 15 (6.2%) and nine (3.7%) were positive for T. trichiura, hookworm and A. lumbricoides, respectively (Table 2). Hookworm and T. trichiura infections were exclusively of light intensity (<2,000 EPG and <1,000 EPG, respectively), whereas a third of the A. lumbricoides infections were of moderate intensity (5,000�C49,999 EPG).

Among the 40 children who were infected with S. mansoni according to a single CCA(t?) test, but showed no S. mansoni eggs in any of the four Kato-Katz thick smears, three (7.5%), two (5.0%), and two (5.0%) children were positive for T. trichiura, S. haematobium and A. lumbricoides, Drug_discovery respectively. None of these children were infected with hookworm. S. haematobium Infections before Treatment Among 242 children at the baseline survey, 26 were infected with S.