Intestinal worms are among the world’s most common infections: more than 900 million people worldwide are infected with the parasites.
The worms cause abdominal pain; diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting; gas and bloating; fatigue; and unexplained weight loss, according to Healthline.
But an innovative health education program could reduce the prevalence of intestinal worms at very little cost, a new study from the Australian National University (ANU) has shown.
Lead author of the study, PhD candidate Mary Lorraine Mationg, said intestinal worms are a “disease of poverty”, primarily affecting children in areas where sanitation is poor.
To help combat this, a cartoon to teach children the importance of good hygiene was developed by researchers from ANU, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, the University of Queensland, and the Philippines’ Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
In the cartoon, a nurse gives Filipino schoolchildren ‘magic glasses’ that show where worms are lurking: in dirty food (from street vendors, or uncovered food at home), in garbage tips and other dirty places where people might play or tread, and in dung in rice fields and rivers.
The children learn that worms make people tired and difficult to concentrate; they weaken resistance to other illnesses; and they cause slow growth, fever, and diarrhoea.
Worms are spread by eating undercooked meat, drinking contaminated water, consuming contaminated soil, contact with contaminated faeces, poor sanitation, and poor hygiene, Healthline states.
The children in the cartoon learn they should not play in places with garbage and dirt, especially after a storm; to wash food before eating it; to cover food; to wash their hands with soap, and keep their nails clean; to wear slippers or shoes when outside, so worms don’t burrow into their skin; and to defecate in a toilet, rather than outside.
The study conducted in the Philippines showed the Magic Glasses program was effective and could be rolled out for less than US$1 per student.
This cost would be dramatically reduced if the program is scaled up across the country.
“Currently, the focus when it comes to intestinal worms is on mass drug administration to at-risk children,” Ms Mationg said. “This is not sustainable long term.
“Without access to improved sanitation and health education, treatment is ineffectual.”
Previous trials of the Magic Glasses program in China showed intestinal worm infections were reduced by half.
In the Philippines, it was most effective in schools with a prevalence rate of less than 15 per cent.
“We knew it worked, but we wanted to determine whether it was both scalable and affordable,” Ms Mationg said.
“If teachers were involved in the rollout, rather than our research team, the estimated cost would be just 77 US cents per student. This is based on a regional rollout. If scaled nationally, the cost would be much lower.
“It is something that could easily be added to the current government program for control of intestinal worms.”
Professor Darren Gray, head of the Department of Global Health at ANU, added: “The Magic Glasses concept works, and can be utilised across cultures and diseases.”
The study has been published in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific.
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