Immunological Consequences of Antihelminthic Treatment in Preschool Children Exposed to Urogenital Schistosome Infection

Table 1

Characteristics of the study groups at baseline.

	Treated	Untreated	Difference (𝑍 and 𝑃 value or 𝜒^2)
Mean age (years)	4.5	4.7	−1.341, 0.247
Mean infection intensity (eggs/10 mL)	10	8.1	−0.146, 0.946
(Prevalence in %)	13.2	11.1	𝜒^2=0.043,𝑃=0.835
Residence	9/14/8	7/2/1	−1.037, 0.063
Male/female	9/22	4/10	−0.640, 0.622
SWAP-IgM (OD ± SEM)	0.155±0.03	0.172±0.02	−1.548, 0.127
Prevalence in %	14.6	7.3	𝜒^2=0.5, 𝑃=0.479
CAP-IgM (OD ± SEM)	0.225±0.036	0.333±0.06	−1.913, 0.057
Prevalence in %	26.8	12.2	𝜒^2=0.67, 𝑃=0.4
SEA-IgM (OD ± SEM)	0.345±0.04	0.513±0.1	−1.312, 0.198
Prevalence in %	7.5	10	𝝌^𝟐=𝟒.𝟔𝟕 ,  𝐏=𝟎.𝟎𝟑
SWAP-IgE (OD ± SEM)	0.054±0.02	0.054±0.02	−0.972, 0.345
CAP-IgE (OD ± SEM)	0.077±0.02	0.154±0.1	−0.245, 0.823
SEA-IgE (OD ± SEM)	0.106±0.05	0.151±0.06	−0.473, 0.643
SWAP-IgG4 (OD ± SEM)	0.083±0.05	0.028±0.01	−0.945, 0.376
CAP-IgG4 (OD ± SEM)	0.019 ± 0.07	0.008 ± 0.02	−1.031, 0.355
SEA-IgG4 (OD ± SEM)	0.123±0.05	0.019±0.009	−1.714, 0.087
Derp-IgE (OD ± SEM)	0.049±0.02	0.037±0.007	−1.337, 0.190
Derp-IgG4 (OD ± SEM)	0.048±0.016	0.243±0.13	−1.286, 0.211
Schizont-IgM (OD ± SEM)	0.098±0.01	0.145±0.02	−1.901, 0.056
Schizont-IgG (OD ± SEM)	0.058±0.02	0.028±0.009	−0.968, 0.343
DD2-IgG (OD ± SEM)	0.034±0.007	0.149±0.09	−1.600, 0.119
MSP119-IgG (OD ± SEM)	0.029±0.01	0.013±0.004	−0.402, 0.721
CH150-IgG (OD ± SEM)	0.018±0.005	0.005±0.003	−0.987, 0.343

Comparison of treated and untreated groups in terms of baseline infection levels, demographic, and immunological characteristics. OD: optical density, SEM: standard error of mean. The 𝑍 and 𝑃 values were calculated using the Mann-Whitney 𝑈 (2 samples) test, and prevalences were compared using the 𝜒² test. The significant value is highlighted in bold.