When Public Health Meets Technology - Utility of Foldscope and Geographic Information System (GIS) in Detecting Intestinal Parasitic Infestations Among School Children of Southern Karnataka, India

Background: Effective and efficient use of technological advances will ease public health interventions and also help in reaching a larger population. Geographic Information System (GIS) and foldscope are two such technologies which have promising utilities in Public health. The intestinal parasitic infestations are serious public health problems worldwide. Identifying them early through feasible technologies will help in their effective management. With this objective, the present study was conducted to assess the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among school children in southern districts of Karnataka, India. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 10 urban, 10 rural and 5 tribal schools of two southern districts of Karnataka.1052 children studying in these schools were selected by probability proportionate to size technique. Stool samples were collected and examined under foldscope for parasitic infestation. The schools where children with worm infestations present were plotted in the GIS map. Findings: Among 1052 children included in the present study 139 (13.2%) were found to have an intestinal parasitic infestation. Among these children 24.6% were in the age group of 5 to 9 years, 12.2% were males and 14.4% were females. It was found that with one unit increase in age and weight there was a slightly lesser chance of developing parasitic infection and this was found to be statistically significant. Urban students had higher odds (2.765) of parasitic infections compared to rural students. Mean age, height and weight were significantly lesser among subjects with a worm infestation. Interpretation: Utility of foldscope and GIS were found to be feasible and effective in the detection and mapping of parasitic infestations. The prevalence of parasitic infestation was found to be high among urban school children. Age, weight, height and urban residence were found to be the major predictors of outcome. Funding Statement: This research was funded bythe Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India (sanction order no. BT/IN/Indo-US/Foldscope/39/2015 dated 20.03.2018) issued for implementation of the Foldscope project. Declaration of Interests: Authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval Statement: Before the start of the study the synopsis containing the study design and proforma were submitted to the Institutional Ethics Committee of the JSS Medical College, Mysuru and the clearance was obtained.