Spatial patterns of intestinal parasite infections among children and adolescents in some indigenous communities in Argentina
| Autor: | Carlos Matías Scavuzzo, Micaela Natalia Campero, Rosana Elizabeth Maidana, María Georgina Oberto, María Victoria Periago, Ximena Porcasi |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2024 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Geospatial Health, Vol 19, Iss 1 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 1827-1987 1970-7096 |
| DOI: | 10.4081/gh.2024.1279 |
| Popis: | Argentina has a heterogeneous prevalence of infections by intestinal parasites (IPs), with the north in the endemic area, especially for soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). We analyzed the spatial patterns of these infections in the city of Tartagal, Salta province, by an observational, correlational, and cross-sectional study in children and adolescents aged 1 to 15 years from native communities. One fecal sample per individual was collected to detect IPs using various diagnostic techniques: Telemann sedimentation, Baermann culture, and Kato-Katz. Moran’s global and local indices were applied together with SaTScan to assess the spatial distribution, with a focus on cluster detection. The extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) machine-learning model was used to predict the presence of IPs and their transmission pathways. Based on the analysis of 572 fecal samples, a prevalence of 78.3% was found. The most frequent parasite was Giardia lamblia (30.9%). High- and low-risk clusters were observed for most species, distributed in an east-west direction and polarized in two large foci, one near the city of Tartagal and the other in the km 6 community. Spatial XGBoost models were obtained based on distances with a minimum median accuracy of 0.69. Different spatial patterns reflecting the mechanisms of transmission were noted. The distribution of the majority of the parasites studied was aligned in a westerly direction close to the city, but the STH presence was higher in the km 6 community, toward the east. The purely spatial analysis provides a different and complementary overview for the detection of vulnerable hotspots and strategic intervention. Machine-learning models based on spatial variables explain a large percentage of the variability of the IPs. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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