Announcing the DeWorm3 Collection

18th January 2018

Breaking the transmission of soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections may require community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) over the standard approach targeted at pre-school and school age children according to ongoing research presented as part of the DeWorm3 Project, led by the Natural History Museum in London.

The DeWorm3 global partner network present a PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases collection focused on interrupting the transmission of soil transmitted helminths (STH).

The DeWorm3 collection compiles numerous studies on STHs, including:

• A protocol to evaluate the sustainability, scalability, and replicability of STH transmission interruption; 

• A protocol to conduct a series of cluster randomized trials in Benin, India and Malawi to evaluate the impact of biannual community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) with albendazole compared to the current standard of care;

• An analysis of the impact of different diagnostic tools to aid in STH transmission elimination.

STHs infect an estimated 1.45 billion people globally, resulting in the loss of almost 5 million disability adjusted life years (DALYs) annually. The current WHO strategy for controlling STH is based on MDA of targeted deworming medications to pre-school age children (pre-SAC) and school age children (SAC) in order to control morbidity.

However recent mathematical models and systematic reviews suggest that the current strategy of targeting pre-SAC and SAC with MDA is unlikely to break transmission of STH in many settings, in large part due to the presence of adult reservoirs of disease. New evidence regarding novel intervention strategies and tools are needed as the WHO and other partners consider changing the global STH strategy to address community-level STH transmission.

The DeWorm3 collection provides a compendium of relevant information, ranging from STH epidemiological surveys to implementation strategies that can be used to increase coverage of community-based healthcare delivery, which is useful for understanding the STH elimination landscape. Additional articles will be added to the collection as the STH elimination evidence base continues to grow.

The collection involves first authors from the University of Washington (USA), the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), Christian Medical College (India), University of Warwick (UK), Smith College (USA), Imperial College (UK), Universidad Nacional de Salta (Argentina), Instituto de Investigaciones de Enfermedades Tropicales (Argentina), and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (USA).

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases collection