Impact of community piped water coverage on re-infection with urogenital schistosomiasis in rural South Africa

Type Journal Article - Elife
Title Impact of community piped water coverage on re-infection with urogenital schistosomiasis in rural South Africa
Volume 9
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2020
URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32178761
Abstract
Previously, we demonstrated that coverage of piped water in the seven years preceding a parasitological survey was strongly predictive of Schistosomiasis haematobium infection in a nested cohort of 1976 primary school children (Tanser, 2018). Here, we report on the prospective follow up of infected members of this nested cohort (N = 333) for two successive rounds following treatment. Using a negative binomial regression fitted to egg count data, we found that every percentage point increase in piped water coverage was associated with 4.4?cline in intensity of re-infection (incidence rate ratio = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.93-0.98, p=0.004) among the treated children. We therefore provide further compelling evidence in support of the scaleup of piped water as an effective control strategy against Schistosoma haematobium transmission.