In the developing world, inadequate water supply and sanitation, as well as crowded living conditions, combined with lack of access to health care and low levels of education, make the poor particularly susceptible to infection and disease, including STHs. ![]() Inadequate hygiene and poor health care systems and facilities, as well as social indifference, make this situation worse, although STH control is often neglected, even in worm-infested countries. These few seriously infected individuals are at a higher risk of disease and are also the prime source of environmental contamination. Most studies suggest that approximately 70% of the worm population is hosted by 15% of the host population. As adult worms, the soil-transmitted helminths live for years in the human gastrointestinal tract. Geohelminths are more prevalent among children living in conditions of poor sanitation, and their impact on morbidity and mortality is more severe in malnourished populations. An efficient sanitation infrastructure can reduce the morbidity of STHs and eliminates the underlying cause of most poverty-related diseases and thus supports the economic development of a country. ![]() The reasons for the development of a control strategy based on population intervention rather than on individual treatment are discussed, as well as the costs of the prevention of STHs, although these cannot always be calculated because interventions in health education are difficult to measure. The global strategy for the control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis is based on (i) regular anthelminthic treatment, (ii) health education, (iii) sanitation and personal hygiene and (iv) other means of prevention with vaccines and remote sensoring. This review explores the general concepts of transmission dynamics and the environment and intensity of infection and morbidity of STHs. The most important STHs are roundworms ( Ascaris lumbricoides), whipworms ( Trichuris trichiura) and hookworms ( Necator americanus or Ancylostoma duodenale) on a global level, more than a billion people have been infected by at least one species of this group of pathogens. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) form one of the most important groups of infectious agents and are the cause of serious global health problems.
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