Prevalence of Plasmodium spp. and helminths: Systematic review 2000-2018

Introduction: The parasites that cause malaria and helminthiases are distributed in the same geographical areas, affect the same groups and share risk factors; however, its coinfection is little studied. Objective: To estimate the global and specific prevalence by species of Plasmodium spp., Helminths and their coinfection based on studies published in the world scientific literature, 2000-2018. Methodology: Systematic review of the scientific literature based on studies published in Pubmed, Science Direct, SciELO, Web of Science, EBSCO and Google Scholar. Investigations were included based on the implementation of a search protocol that included inclusion and exclusion criteria, according to the PRISMA guide. Reproducibility of the search and selection of studies was guaranteed. The methodological quality was evaluated with STROBE. Results: We included 61 articles with a population of 45,060 people, mostly from Africa, with children and pregnant women. 51 evaluated coinfection in the general population and 10 analyzed helminth infection in a population with malaria. The prevalence of malaria was 41%, helminths 43.4% and the coinfection 17.2%. The most prevalent species were Plasmodium falciparum, Schistosoma haematobium, Uncinarias and Ascaris Lumbricoides . The coinfection between Plasmodium falciparum and Uncinarias was the most prevalent with 6.1% in the general population and 28% in people with malaria. Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of coinfection in a small number of studies, which shows that the study of the interactions between Plasmodium and helminths is an undeveloped area in parasitology. Despite the high magnitude of malaria and helminths in the Americas, studies of coinfection in the region are scarce, which constitutes an obstacle to impact its clinical and epidemiological effects, while preventing the development of public policies for parasitological control in endemic areas. keywords Helminths keywords Helminthiasis , in Helminthiasis TI Malaria