Geospatial risk prediction of hookworm infection and intensity among school-aged children in Dak Lak province, Vietnam.
| Title: | Geospatial risk prediction of hookworm infection and intensity among school-aged children in Dak Lak province, Vietnam. |
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| Authors: | Pham TND; School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.; Bartlett AW; Global Health Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.; Blazek K; School of Population Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.; Hii SF; Melbourne Veterinary School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; Colella V; Melbourne Veterinary School, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.; Ng-Nguyen D; Faculty of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Tây Nguyên University, Buôn Ma Thuột, Vietnam.; Vaz Nery S; Global Health Program, Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. |
| Source: | PLoS neglected tropical diseases [PLoS Negl Trop Dis] 2026 Mar 12; Vol. 20 (3), pp. e0014079. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 12 (Print Publication: 2026). |
| Publication Type: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Journal Info: | Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101291488 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1935-2735 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19352727 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS Negl Trop Dis Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science |
| MeSH Terms: | Hookworm Infections*/epidemiology ; Hookworm Infections*/parasitology; Vietnam/epidemiology ; Humans ; Child ; Animals ; Male ; Female ; Adolescent ; Schools ; Risk Factors ; Necator americanus ; Climate ; Ancylostomatoidea ; Spatial Analysis |
| Abstract: | Background: Hookworms remain problematic in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, despite a school preventive chemotherapy (PC) program since 2007. As hookworms depend on favourable ecological conditions, geospatial modelling incorporating environmental and climatic variables can predict high-risk areas for targeted interventions. This study provides geospatial risk predictions for hookworm infection and intensity among school-aged children in Dak Lak.; Methods: Hookworm infection status and intensity from 7,964 school-aged children from 64 schools collected in 2019-2020 during the Community Deworming for STH trial was combined with environmental and climatic data to develop risk prediction models for (i) overall hookworm infection and (ii) moderate-and-heavy intensity (MHI) Necator americanus infection. Environmental and climatic predictors for the multivariable generalised linear models were selected by identifying the model with the lowest Akaike Information Criterion. Semivariograms were examined for residual spatial autocorrelation, and if present, was accounted for using Matérn's covariance. Regression coefficients were used to predict overall hookworm and MHI N. americanus infection risk across Dak Lak province pre- and post-intervention.; Results: Temperature, precipitation, soil and vegetation variables were included in the hookworm model, while temperature and precipitation variables were included in the MHI N. americanus model. Most of Dak Lak had a predicted hookworm risk of 10-15% pre- and post-intervention, with high-risk hotspots in southern and eastern parts. Moderate-and-heavy intensity N. americanus infection risk pre-intervention was higher than 2% throughout the province and considerably reduced to small pockets in southeastern, central and northern areas post-intervention.; Conclusion: School-based PC should be delivered across Dak Lak at least annually, in keeping with World Health Organization recommendations. However, several hotspots have been identified that would benefit from increased frequency of school-based PC or community-wide mass drug administration.; (Copyright: © 2026 Pham et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.) |
| Competing Interests: | The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260312 Date Completed: 20260320 Latest Revision: 20260322 |
| Update Code: | 20260322 |
| PubMed Central ID: | PMC13004524 |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pntd.0014079 |
| PMID: | 41818267 |
| Database: | MEDLINE |
Journal Article