Preschool children in the Kingdom of Eswatini are excluded from the national school-based deworming programme and had never been surveyed for parasitic infection. During June 2019 we conducted a cross-sectional baseline survey of 261 children (mean age 4.8 ± 0.75 years) attending 16 kindergartens and community care points across 4 provinces. Enterobius vermicularis was sought on peri-anal cellophane/Scotch-tape swabs (n = 261); Schistosoma haematobium in single urine specimens by the chamber-tube microscope-slide (CTMS) sedimentation method (n = 232); and intestinal helminths and protozoa in single stool specimens by the merthiolate-iodine-formaldehyde (MIF) concentration method (n = 175). Pinworm prevalence was 3.8% (10/261) and did not differ by sex (p = 0.76) or province (p = 0.83). S. haematobium ova were found in 0.9% (2/232), both in boys from recognised endemic foci. Intestinal parasites were detected in 41.1% (72/175), with no significant sex (p = 0.64) or regional (p = 0.70) variation; protozoa predominated (97.2% of positives) over helminths (4.2%; all Ascaris lumbricoides), the commonest species being Blastocystis hominis (61.1%) and Giardia lamblia (34.7%). These first baseline data reveal a high burden of intestinal protozoa alongside a low but measurable burden of pinworm and urogenital schistosomiasis in Eswatini preschool children, and support extending screening and preventive chemotherapy to this previously unmonitored age group using the simple, field-deployable cellophane-swab, CTMS and MIF methods.

Parasitic helminth infections remain a major public health concern, particularly in low-resource settings where microscopic diagnosis requires significant time and expertise. This study presents ParasiteNet, a deep learning-based framework for automated classification of 12 helminth egg categories from microscopic images. A dataset of 12,000 annotated images was used to train and evaluate two architectures: CNN+ResNet50 hybrid model and EfficientNetV2B0. Image preprocessing and augmentation techniques were applied to improve model robustness, and performance was evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and loss metrics. Experimental results showed that EfficientNetV2B0 achieved 96.92% classification accuracy with a loss of 0.0067, outperforming the CNN+ResNet50 hybrid model, which achieved 95.25% accuracy with a loss of 0.1840. The proposed framework demonstrates promising performance for automated parasite egg classification under controlled experimental conditions. However, additional validation using independent external datasets, diverse microscopy settings, and prospective clinical studies is necessary to establish the robustness and generalizability of the approach before real-world deployment.

Enterobius vermicularis, also called pinworm, is one of the most common nematode infections in the world. Originally, E. vermicularis was named Oxyuris vermicularis. Humans are the only natural host for this infection. Transmission occurs in people who are living in crowded environments and usually occurs within families. The worms are tiny, thread-like, and whitish. The worm is named after the characteristic pin-like tail present on the posterior part of female worms.[1][2] Pinworm infestation usually occurs in children. Transmission is via direct contact with contaminated items or even during sexual contact. Most infections are asymptomatic. While the cure rate is high, recurrences are common.

Metataxonomic analysis targeting the V4 region of the 18S rDNA gene, combined with molecular phylogenetic inference, was applied to detect nematode DNA of public health relevance in environmental matrices. A total of 25 mOTUs corresponding to six nematode taxa were detected in environmental samples from the Andean region of Colombia. Analysis of 12 water and sludge samples from wastewater treatment plants, 5 artisanal agricultural bioinputs, and 3 food samples revealed multiple species of public health significance: Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, Ascaris spp., and Necator americanus. We also confirmed zoonotic species, including Angiostrongylus cantonensis and Trichinella spp. These findings demonstrate that combining metataxonomics with molecular phylogeny provides a scalable molecular framework for the environmental surveillance of parasitic nematodes, overcoming the limitations of traditional morphological identification methods. This approach offers a replicable model for strengthening control and monitoring programs for parasitism in human populations.

Pinworms of primates are highly host-specific parasites that, in several lineages, are known to share their evolutionary history with that of their hosts. However, for many primate clades, pinworm diversity has been incompletely assessed, leaving some groups of hosts entirely unexplored and large geographic gaps in our knowledge of primate-pinworm associations. In this study, morphological and molecular data (28S rDNA and COI mtDNA) were integrated to assess pinworm diversity across five spider monkey taxa (Ateles spp.) from Mexico to Ecuador. Only two species of pinworms were found parasitizing Ateles hosts, with morphological traits consistent with Trypanoxyuris atelis and Trypanoxyuris atelophora. Phylogenetic analyses of 28S sequences corroborated species identities, suggesting minimal intraspecific divergence. In contrast, analysis of COI sequences revealed the existence of distinct lineages that paralleled host taxonomic identity for both pinworm species. Divergence levels remained below thresholds typical of species-level differentiation within the genus Trypanoxyuris, suggesting incomplete speciation following host diversification. These results echo those found in previous studies in other primate taxa and highlight the potential of pinworms as valuable indicators of host evolutionary and biogeographic histories. Our results reveal complex, species-specific evolutionary trajectories in Trypanoxyuris infecting spider monkeys and underscore the importance of comprehensive sampling for investigating parasite-host coevolution in platyrrhines.

Enterobius vermicularis is the most common nematode infection in the United States. Despite this prevalence, few studies have evaluated current clinical practices with regard to diagnosis and management. Price increases in anthelmintics in the United States add a component of cost-conscious care to treatment selection. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 200 patients in the Military Health System with an International Classification of Diseases code diagnosis of enterobiasis from 2011 to 2018. A clinical diagnosis was made in 70.0% of symptomatic patients. A pinworm paddle or cellophane adhesive was ordered in 12.7% of symptomatic cases, with a positivity rate of 41.2%. Diagnostic studies ineffective for the diagnosis of enterobiasis were ordered in 12.0% of symptomatic cases, with the most common being ova and parasite examinations of the stool (10.0%). The most common initial treatment of enterobiasis was albendazole (73.6%) followed by mebendazole (15.0%), pyrantel (10.9%), and ivermectin (0.5%). Empiric retreatment of patients after initial treatment and empiric treatment of household members were prescribed or recommended in 86.0% and 49.7% of cases, respectively. Counseling on decontamination measures to prevent reinfection was documented in 35.2% of cases. This study suggests that there are knowledge gaps in the optimal diagnostic approach to enterobiasis as well as the role of adjunctive measures to prevent a cycle of continuous reinfection, such as empiric retreatment, empiric treatment of household members, and counseling on decontamination measures. Additionally, the prominence of albendazole use relative to pyrantel pamoate represents an opportunity for cost-conscious care.

A 12-year-old premenarchal female patient presented with right iliac fossa pain, perianal pruritus, urticaria, angioedema, arthralgia, peripheral eosinophilia, and an initially undetectable C-reactive protein. Serial ultrasonography demonstrated increasing intra-abdominal free fluid. Diagnostic laparoscopy demonstrated appendiceal serosal injection, turbid pelvic fluid, and mesenteric lymphadenopathy, prompting appendectomy. Histopathology identified Enterobius vermicularis (EV) within the appendiceal lumen, with reactive lymphoid hyperplasia but no acute suppurative inflammation. Symptoms resolved following surgery and mebendazole treatment. A descriptive updated systematic review of appendectomy specimens containing EV was performed. Seventy-six studies comprising 196,138 appendectomy specimens were included. EV was identified in 3,913 specimens, corresponding to a crude proportion among appendectomy specimens of 2.00% (95% CI: 1.93-2.06%). Among 11 newly identified studies reporting histological subclassification, 247 of 694 EV-positive specimens (35.6%) demonstrated histological acute appendicitis, whereas most showed non-suppurative or reactive pathology. This case and review suggest that appendiceal enterobiasis may present as an appendicitis-like illness, particularly when abdominal pain occurs alongside atypical features such as perianal pruritus, eosinophilia, urticaria, or angioedema. Recognition of enterobiasis may guide anthelmintic therapy and consideration of household treatment; however, a causal relationship between EV and systemic hypersensitivity features cannot be established from a single case. Importantly, clinical deterioration should continue to prompt urgent surgical assessment.

The microbiological quality of laboratory animals evolves along with changes in the research environment. To identify recent trends in modern Japanese research facilities, this study analyzed longitudinal contamination data for 16 major pathogens (including Helicobacter hepaticus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Mycoplasma pulmonis, Mouse hepatitis virus (MHV), Murine norovirus (MNV) and various protozoa) collected over a 14-year period from 2011 to 2024. Our analysis revealed a significant decline in the testing request-level positivity rates (the number of positive testing requests per total requests) for most pathogens, including Helicobacter hepaticus, Pasteurella pneumotropica, Staphylococcus aureus, MHV, MNV and several intestinal protozoa and pinworms. Notably, the highest positivity rate, recorded for Staphylococcus aureus, decreased from 21.45% in 2011 to 13.65% in 2024. Similarly, the rate for Entamoeba dropped from 9.75% to 5.76%. Spironucleus muris, which maintained a low prevalence, showed a slight increase from 0.05% to 0.09% during the same period. These results demonstrate that the overall microbiological quality of mice from academic institutions has improved significantly over the past 14 years. While this progress reflects the success of modern bio-exclusion strategies, the data indicate that certain microorganisms persist at low levels and are not easily eradicated. These findings suggest that maintaining this high standard of quality requires continuous vigilance and the further refinement of quality control protocols to safeguard the integrity and reproducibility of biomedical research.

The article analyzes the status of parasitic infections in Poland, with a focus on pinworm, roundworm, and giardiasis. It highlights gaps in disease monitoring following legal changes in 2008 that eliminated reporting requirements for many parasitic diseases. The last reliable epidemiological data (from 2008) show an 18% increase in roundworm cases and a 21% rise in pinworm infections, alongside a decline in trichinellosis and toxoplasmosis. The authors emphasize the nonspecific symptoms of these infections, such as sleep disturbances, abdominal pain, asthma-like signs, and allergic reactions, which complicate diagnosis. The mechanisms of antiparasitic drugs (benzimidazoles, pyrantel, nitroimidazoles), their adverse effects (including autoimmune risks in children), and the growing problem of parasite resistance are discussed in detail. The article compares the effectiveness of mass deworming programs in developing countries with the situation in Poland, where better sanitation and the lack of up-to-date epidemiological data make such interventions potentially harmful. Instead of blanket prophylaxis, the authors recommend individualized therapy, strengthened epidemiological surveillance, and health education, particularly targeting children and their caregivers.