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document
Sustaining control of schistosomiasis mansoni in moderate endemicity areas in western Côte d'Ivoire : a SCORE study protocol . BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that occurs in the tropics and subtropics . The mainstay of control is preventive chemotherapy with praziquantel . In Africa , an estimated 230 million people require preventive chemotherapy . In western Côte d'Ivoire , infections with Schistosoma mansoni are widespread . To provide an evidence-base for programme decisions about preventive chemotherapy to sustain control of schistosomiasis , a 5-year multi-country study with different treatment arms has been designed by the Schistosomiasis Consortium for Operational Research and Evaluation ( SCORE ) and is currently being implemented in various African settings , including Côte d'Ivoire . METHODS/DESIGN We report the study protocol , including ethics statement and insight from a large-scale eligibility survey carried out in four provinces in western Côte d'Ivoire . The study protocol has been approved by the ethics committees of Basel and Côte d'Ivoire . A total of 12,110 children , aged 13-14 years , from 264 villages were screened for S. mansoni using duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears from single stool samples . Among the schools with a S. mansoni prevalence of 10-24 % , 75 schools were selected and randomly assigned to one of three treatment arms . In each school , three stool samples are being collected from 100 children aged 9-12 years annually and one stool sample from 100 first-year students at baseline and in the final year and subjected to duplicate Kato-Katz thick smears . Cost and coverage data for the different intervention arms , along with environmental , political and other characteristics that might impact on the infection prevalence and intensity will be recorded in each study year , using a pretested village inventory form . DISCUSSION The study will document changes in S. mansoni infection prevalence and intensity according to different treatment schemes . Moreover , factors that determine the effectiveness of preventive chemotherapy will be identified . These factors will help to develop reasonable measures of force of transmission that can be used to make decisions about the most cost-effective means of lowering prevalence , intensity and transmission in a given setting . The gathered information and results will inform how to effectively sustain control of schistosomiasis at a low level in different social-ecological contexts . TRIAL REGISTRATION ISRCTN99401114 ( date assigned : 12 November 2014 ) .
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Outcome_Physical
control of schistosomiasis mansoni
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Outcome_Physical
sustain control of schistosomiasis
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Outcome_Other
changes in S.
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Outcome_Physical
mansoni infection prevalence and intensity
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Outcome_Physical
Moreover , factors that determine the effectiveness of preventive chemotherapy
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Outcome_Physical
lowering prevalence , intensity and transmission
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Outcome_Physical
sustain control of schistosomiasis
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Participant_Sample-size
total of 12,110 children
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Participant_Age
aged 13-14 years
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Participant_Condition
Kato-Katz thick smears from single stool samples
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Participant_Sample-size
100 children
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Participant_Age
aged 9-12 years
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Participant_Sample-size
100 first-year students