7.1.4 Helminthic diseases

. . Helminthic diseases Helminthes are mostly endoparasitic in the gut and blood of human beings and cause diseases called helminthiasis. The two most prevalent helminthic diseases are Ascariasis and Filariasis. Ascaris is a monogenic parasite and exhibits sexual dimorphism. Ascariasis is a disease caused by the intestinal endoparasite Ascaris lumbricoides commonly called the round worms (Fig. . ) . It is transmitted through ingestion of embryonated eggs through contaminated food and water. Children playing in contaminated soils are also prone to have a chance of transfer of eggs from hand to mouth. The symptoms of the disease are abdominal pain, vomiting, headache, anaemia, irritability with fishes such as Gambusia which feed on mosquito larvae. Preparations containing Bacillus thuringiensis can be sprayed to kill the mosquito larvae since it is not toxic to other forms of life. The best protection against malaria is to avoid being bitten by mosquito. People are advised to use mosquito nets, wire gauging of windows and doors to prevent mosquito bites. In the ’s the World Health Organisation (WHO) introduced the Malaria eradication programme. This programme was not successful due to the resistance of Plasmodium to the drugs used to treat it and resistance of mosquitoes to DDT and other insecticides. Malaria vaccine is used to prevent malaria. The only approved vaccine as of is RTS,S(Mosquirix). It requires four injections and has relatively low efficacy ( – %). Due to this low efficacy, WHO does not recommend the use of RTS,S vaccine in babies between and weeks of age.