Oesophagostomum - Public Health and Prevention Strategies/vaccines

Public Health and Prevention Strategies/vaccines

Given that infective Oesophagostomum larvae are most likely transmitted via oral-fecal routes, sufficiently cleaning and cooking meat and vegetables, as well as boiling all consumed water or only using potable water would help to complement a mass treatment program. Factors like religion, family size and wealth do not suffice in explaining the unique epidemiology of Oesophagostomum; geographic and geological factors must be explored in more detail.

Since oesophagostomiasis is primarily a regional problem (localized in northern Ghana and Togo, an optimal approach to addressing it requires mobilization of resources within and around the endemic area. One proposed solution is to organize all research and intervention projects at the local level, so as to instill knowledge of the infection in the community, and establish a regional collaboration between Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso in order to effectively combat oesophagostomiasis.

There is no vaccine for oesophagostomiasis, although prolonged treatment with albendazole seems to be highly effective in countering the Oesophagostomum threat. In fact, recent research indicates that albendazole treatment may be the best intervention available for eliminating oesophagostomiasis from northern Togo and Ghana; following treatment, prevalence continued to go down even with interruption of the intervention. The following is a review of J. B. Ziem’s study of a mass treatment campaign in northern Ghana, as well as the follow-up conducted with the Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program.

Ziem, Juventus B et al. “Impact of repeated mass treatment on human Oesophagostomum and hookworm infections in northern Ghana.” Tropical Medicine & International Health: TM & IH 11.11 (2006): 1764-72.

This was a two year study, with four rounds of albendazole treatment administered to a village in Ghana; the target area and an untreated control area were monitored. In the target area, prevalence went down dramatically from 53.0% to 5.4% in the first year to 0.8% in the second year. Larval counts in stools also went down, as well as hookworm prevalence. In contrast, the control area saw an increase in prevalence from 18.5% to 37%. The results indicate potential for elimination of oesophagostomiasis utilizing similar albendazole-distributing mass treatment programs.

Ziem, J. B. et al. “Annual mass treatment with albendazole might eliminate human oesophagostomiasis from the endemic focus in northern Ghana.” Tropical Medicine & International Health: TM & IH 11.11 (2006): 1759-63.

This follow-up to the original two-year study by J.B. Ziem saw collaboration with the Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Programme, essentially expanding the scope of the Oesophagostomum Intervention Research Program that Ziem worked under. 11 villages across northeastern Ghana were given albendazole-ivermectin treatment and monitored for changes in prevalence; once again, decreases in both Oesophagostomum and hookworm infections occurred after two years of mass treatment. However, after interrupting mass treatment, Oesophagostomum prevalence continued to decrease even as hookworm prevalence increased again. Human oesophagostomiasis infection thus seems interruptible; even small numbers of persistent Oesophagostomum post-treatment were not sufficient to cause reinfection.