A geographic information system for estimating the prevalence of helminthiasis infections in the North-Eastern Thailand

Abstract

Human helminthiasis parasites are known to be endemic in several countries in South-eastern Asia. In particular, Opisthorchis viverrini (OV) Liver fluke possesses a considerable health threat to human population in North-eastern and Northern Thailand. The goal of the present investigation is to estimate the distribution of OV Liver fluke in humans for 20 provinces in North-eastern part of Thailand (known as Isan region). As a result, an intuitive graphical representation of the spatial distribution of OV parasite across North-eastern part of Thailand has been built. In addition, the prevalence of the parasite has been estimated for various administrative divisions of the country. The current project utilises the prevalence distribution data of Opisthorchis viverrini helminth, received from a country-wide epidemiological study conducted by The Ministry of Public Health of Thailand (MOPH). The associated geographical data from MOPH as well as other publicly available spatial data were imported in a specially designed Geographical Information System (GIS). Major procedures of the project were implemented using open-source software programs. The developed GIS was used to estimate the number of infected people on a region, province (changwat), district (amphoe) and sub district (tambon) basis. Initial estimates show that the overall prevalence of helminthiasis infection under study in North-eastern Thailand may exceed 7 million people, while the average infection rate constitutes 26%.