Table 1

Baseline characteristics of the four study groups.

Variable
Infection/No treatment (n = 100)
No infection/No treatment (n = 100)
Infection/treatment (n = 100)
No infection/Treatment (n = 100)

Age (years)




     Mean (SD)
9.5 (2.0)
9.3 (1.8)
9.2 (1.6)
9.4 (1.8)
Sex




     Male/Female
55/45
47/43
50/50
54/46
Socioeconomic level




     Mean (SD)
2.6 (1.1)
2.0 (0.9)
2.2 (0.9)
1.9 (0/8)
Body mass index (kg/m2)




     Mean (SD)
15.8 (1.8)
15.9 (2.5)
15.6 (1.5)
16.1 (2.4)
Crowding (persons/room)




     Mean (SD)
2.7 (1.2)
2.4 (1.2)
2.8 (1.1)
2.4 (1.1)
Geohelminth prevalence (%)




     Any
100
0
100
0
     A. lumbricoides
75
0
73
0
     T. trichiura
76
0
80
0
     Hookworm
19
0
15
0
     S. stercoralis
3
0
3
0
Intensity, GM (range) epg




     A. lumbricoides
5,658 (70–227,500)
0
6,512 (70–182,700)
0
     T. trichiura
602 (70–40,250)
0
583 (70–13,720)
0
Number of albendazole treatments




     0
98%
97%
0%
0%
     1–3
2%
2%
4%
0%
     4–6
0%
0%
3%
8%
     7
0%
1%
93%
92%

GM – geometric mean. SD – standard deviation. Epg – eggs per gramme of stool. Anthelmintic treatments were with single doses of 400 mg of albendazole.

Cooper et al. BMC Immunology 2008 9:33   doi:10.1186/1471-2172-9-33