The latest survey data of Guizhou Province’s Disease Control Department shows that currently over 16 million people are infected with Ascaris [1] in that province, with a total infection rate of 42.4 percent. The infection rate ranks first in China and is three times higher than the national average infection rate. Farmers, elementary and middle school students are among the major infected groups, with a rate of over 50 percent of the population.
According to a report carried by the Guizhou City News, the result of a random inspection of 15,958 people at 30 points in Guizhou Province’s ten cities and counties including Guiyang and Kaiyang, Tongzi, Tongren, and Guiding, showed several gastro-intestinal infection types of nematode worms, including Ascarids, hookworms, whipworms and pinworms to be 42.4 percent, 4.7 percent, 10.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively. The Ascarid infection rate in Weining Autonomous County, 61.8 percent, is the highest, followed by Guiyang County’s 60.7 percent, and the lowest rate is Sinan county’s 27.6 percent.
Experts’ analyses found that Ascarid infection rates apparently relate to occupation and age. The infection rate among elementary and middle school students is up to 53.80 percent, while that of preschool children is 42.45 percent. Farmers and factory workers are among the highest infected groups at 48.02 percent.
Disease control experts said that the increasing high Ascarid infection rate among people in Guizhou Province is due mainly to poor sanitation conditions, and that prevention should precede treatment, as it is essential to cultivate good personal health habits. They suggest that children under the age of 14 should go to the hospital for stool examinations and take intestinal Ascarid-repellent drugs under a doctor’s guidance once every six months.
[1] Ascaris is a type of parasitic giant intestinal roundworm known as nematode worms. They can cause hemorrhage, and lung inflammation, as well as bacterial infection.
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