Maternal geohelminth infections are associated with an increased susceptibility to geohelminth infection in children: a case-control study.

• Main Authors: Raaj S Mehta (Author), Alejandro Rodriguez (Author), Martha Chico (Author), Irene Guadalupe (Author), Nely Broncano (Author), Carlos Sandoval (Author), Fernanda Tupiza (Author), Edward Mitre (Author), Philip J Cooper (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Children of mothers infected with soil-transmitted helminths (STH) may have an increased susceptibility to STH infection.We did a case-control study nested in a birth cohort in Ecuador. Data from 1,004 children aged 7 months to 3 years were analyzed. Cases were defined as children with Ascaris lumbricoides and/or Trichuris trichiura, controls without. Exposure was defined as maternal infection with A. lumbricoides and/or T. trichiura, detected during the third trimester of pregnancy. The analysis was restricted to households with a documented infection to control for infection risk. Children of mothers with STH infections had a greater risk of infection compared to children of uninfected mothers (adjusted OR 2.61, 95% CI: 1.88-3.63, p<0.001). This effect was particularly strong in children of mothers with both STH infections (adjusted OR: 5.91, 95% CI: 3.55-9.81, p<0.001). Newborns of infected mothers had greater levels of plasma IL-10 than those of uninfected mothers (p=0.033), and there was evidence that cord blood IL-10 was increased among newborns who became infected later in childhood (p=0.060).Our data suggest that maternal STH infections increase susceptibility to infection during early childhood, an effect that was associated with elevated IL-10 in cord plasma.

Item Description

1935-2727
1935-2735
10.1371/journal.pntd.0001753