Health impact of intestinal helminth infections among podoconiosis patients

Abstract

Intestinal helminth infections are most common diseases of the poor and a potential cause ofanemia in developing countries. Podoconiosis is non-filarial " elephantiasis " of the lower legs in farmers that work on loamy clay soil and is a chronic complication that does not have effective treatment. Soil contact being the mode of transmission of geo-helminths and the cause of podoconiosis, the aim of this paper is to investigate the health impact of helminth infections of podoconiosis patients. On the other hand, the overall prevalence of intestinal geo-helminth infection decreased with increasing clinical stages of podoconiosis, implying that with severe and complicated podoconiosis, the individual would be seriously incapacitated to work on the farm and hence will have a limited contact with soil to be exposed to helminth infections. The study has provided good evidence to justify selective initiation of deworming and iron rich nutrient supplementation to improve the well being of podoconiosis patients under resource poor conditions.