PREVALENCE OF HOOKWORM INFECTION, ANEMIA AND FECAL BLOOD-LOSS AMONG THE YUPNO PEOPLE OF PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA

The present report describes a study of hookworm infection, anaemia an d the presence of blood in stool among the inhabitants of the Yupno ar ea in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea. The study group comprised 588 persons of all age groups. A second group of 45 patients attending th e Madang General Hospital, in the provincial capital on the coast, was used for comparison. In the Yupno area, 59% of the subjects were infe cted with hookworm; in the coastal group the infection rate was 82%, w hich was significantly higher. There is therefore a moderate prevalenc e of hookworm infection in the Yupno area, which does not impair the h ealth of the population to any great extent. In both places there was a clear increase in the infection rate between the group of children 1 -5 years old and the older groups. The mean blood haemoglobin level wa s 15.1g/dl among the Yupno, which was significantly higher than that o f the second group (10.7g/dl). There was a significant negative linear correlation between the intensity of hookworm infection and blood hae moglobin level. The Colo-Rectal-Test for blood in stool was used on sa mples from 145 persons in the Yupno and from 43 in the coastal group. The test gave positive results in 17% of the cases without worm infect ion. In infected persons, the Colo-Rectal-Test gave an increasing rate of positive results as the parasite burden increased: 24% for subject s with low levels of infection, and 57% and 67% for moderate and high levels, respectively. The Cole-Rectal-Test is therefore a simple metho d for the detection of faecal blood loss in populations with a high pr evalence of hookworm infection. However, it is not useful as an instru ment for general screening for hook-worm infections.