***TASK*** the task is to summarize an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***INPUT*** the input is a biomedical literature 
    ***OUTPUT*** the output is the summary of an input biomedical literature in six sentences 
    ***DOCUMENTATION*** 
    ***EXAMPLES*** 
    Input: Background Some studies have suggested that helminth infections increase the risk of malaria infection and are associated with increased number of malaria attacks and anaemia . Thus interventions to control helminth infections may have an impact on incidence of clinical malaria and anaemia . The current study assessed the impact of two anthelmintic treatment approaches on malaria infection and on anaemia in school and pre-school children in Magu district , Tanzania . Methods A total of 765 children were enrolled into a prospect i ve r and omized anthelmintic intervention trial following a baseline study of 1546 children . Enrolled children were r and omized to receive either repeated treatment with praziquantel and albendazole four times a year ( intervention group , 394 children ) or single dose treatment with praziquantel and albendazole once a year ( control group , 371 children ) . Follow up examinations were conducted at 12 and 24 months after baseline to assess the impact of the intervention . Stool and urine sample s were collected and examined for schistosome and soil transmitted helminth infections . Blood sample s were also collected and examined for malaria parasites and haemoglobin concentrations . Monitoring of clinical malaria attacks was performed at each school during the two years of the intervention . Results Out of 1546 children screened for P. falciparum , S. mansoni , S. haematobium , hookworm and T. Trichiura at baseline , 1079 ( 69.8 % ) were infected with at least one of the four parasites . There was no significant difference in malaria infection ( prevalence , parasite density and frequency of malaria attacks ) and in the prevalence of anaemia between the repeated and single dose anthelmintic treatment groups at 12 and 24 months follow up ( p > 0.05 ) . However , overall , there was significant improvement in mean haemoglobin concentrations ( p < 0.001 ) from baseline levels of 122.0g/L and 123.0g/L to 136.0g/L and 136.8g/L for the repeated and single dose treatment groups , respectively , at 24 months follow-up which result ed in significant reduction in prevalence of anaemia . Conclusions These results suggest that repeated anthelmintic treatment did not have an impact on malaria infection compared to single dose treatment . However , both treatment approaches had overall impact in terms of improvements of haemoglobin levels and hence reductions in prevalence of anaemia OBJECTIVES This study hypothesized that besides iron deficiency , intestinal parasites infection is also a determinant of anemia in schoolchildren in rural Vietnam . METHODS 400 primary schoolchildren from 20 primary schools in Tam Nong district , a poor rural area in Vietnam , were r and omly selected from enrollment lists .  Venous blood ( 5ml ) was collected in a cross sectional study and analyzed for hemoglobin ( Hb ) , serum ferritin ( SF ) , serum transferrin receptor ( TfR ) , serum C-reactive protein ( CRP ) and total immunoglobulin E ( IgE ) .  Stools sample s were examined for hookworm , Trichuris , and Ascaris infection . Logistic regression was used to assess the effect of intestinal parasites on anemia . RESULTS The prevalence of anemia ( Hb < 115g/l ) was 25 % . Iron deficiency ( TfR > 8.5mg/L ) occurred in 2 % of the children . The prevalence of intestinal parasites was 92 % with the highest prevalence for Trichuris ( 76 % ) and Ascaris ( 71 % ) . More than 30 % and 80 % of the children showed an elevated CRP ( > or = 8 mg/L ) and IgE ( > 90 IU/ml ) concentration . Anemia status was borderline significantly associated with SF and not associated with TfR and CRP . The prevalence odds ratio for Trichuris infection was 1.96 ( 95 % CI 1.07 - 3.59 ) and 2.00 ( 95 % CI 1.08 - 3.65 ) with iron deficiency reflected by TfR and SF , respectively . CONCLUSION Anemia is highly prevalent among schoolchildren in Vietnam but may not be associated with iron deficiency . Trichuris infection is associated with a doubled risk of anemia , not mediated through iron deficiency . Chronic infection may play a role in anemia , but needs further investigation We evaluated the effects of the  Zanzibar school-based deworming program  on the iron status of primary school children . Parasitologic and nutritional assessment s were carried out at baseline , 6 mo , and 12 mo in 4 nonprogram schools ( n = 1002 ) , 4 schools in which students received twice-yearly deworming ( n = 952 ) , and 4 schools in which students received thrice-yearly deworming ( n = 970 ) with 500 mg generic mebendazole .  Schools were r and omly selected for evaluation and allocated to program groups . Relative to no treatment , thrice-yearly deworming caused significant decreases in protoporphyrin concentrations and both deworming regimens caused marginally significant increases in serum ferritin concentrations . The average annual changes in protoporphyrin concentrations were -5.9 and -23.5 micromol/mol heme in the control and thrice-yearly deworming groups , respectively ( P < 0.001 ) . The average changes in ferritin concentration were 2.8 and 4.5 microg/L , respectively ( P = 0.07 ) . Deworming had no effect on annual hemoglobin change or prevalence of anemia . However , the relative risk of severe anemia ( hemoglobin < 70 g/L ) was 0.77 ( 95 % confidence limits : 0.39 , 1.51 ) in the twice-yearly deworming group and 0.45 ( 0.19 , 1.08 ) in the thrice-yearly deworming group . The effects on prevalence of high protoporphyrin values and incidence of moderate-to-severe anemia ( hemoglobin < 90 g/L ) were significantly greater in children with > 2000 hookworm eggs/g feces at baseline . We estimate that this deworming program prevented 1260 cases of moderate-to-severe anemia and 276 cases of severe anemia in a population of 30,000 schoolchildren in 1 y. Where hookworm is heavily endemic , deworming programs can improve iron status and prevent moderate and severe anemia , but deworming may be needed at least twice yearly BACKGROUND Iron deficiency and its consequent anemia constitute the commonest micronutrient deficiency in the world . OBJECTIVE We investigated whether long-term , weekly iron-folate supplements administered at school would improve hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations in adolescent girls , including those with mild-to-moderate anemia and hemoglobin concentrations indicating borderline anemia . DESIGN Subjects were 266 girls with hemoglobin concentrations of 80 - 119.9 g/L ( group A ) and 358 girls with hemoglobin concentrations of 120 - 130 g/L ( group B ) who were otherwise healthy . Two hundred sixty-six girls in group A and 268 girls in group B were r and omly assigned to receive either 60 or 120 mg Fe plus 3.5 mg folic acid weekly for 22 wk . Ninety of the girls in group B were r and omly assigned to receive only 5 mg folic acid weekly . Capillary hemoglobin and plasma ferritin were measured at baseline and after 12 and 22 wk of supplementation . RESULTS By the end of the study , 2 % of the girls had dropped out and > 96 % had taken > or = 20 of the 22 tablets ; side effects were minimal . Mean plasma ferritin increased significantly in all iron-supplemented groups , independently of initial hemoglobin values and iron doses . Ferritin concentrations decreased in the girls supplemented with folic acid only . As expected , hemoglobin responses to iron were higher in group A than in group B and increases were positively correlated with initial plasma ferritin . Hemoglobin failed to respond to folate supplementation if initial plasma ferritin concentrations were low . Mean hemoglobin increased significantly and consistently in relation to the length of treatment . CONCLUSION Long-term , weekly iron-folate supplementation was found to be a practical , safe , effective , and inexpensive method for improving iron nutrition in adolescent schoolgirls A study to determine the effect of antihelminthic treatment on growth and nutritional status was undertaken on 103 children in the second grade of primary school , 71 of whom were found to be infected with Ascaris lumbricoides or Trichuris trichiura . The median Ascaris and Trichuris intensities in the infected group were 19,600 ( range ; 0 - 488,000 ) and 2,800 ( range ; 0 - 84,600 ) eggs per gram of feces respectively . Forty-three children harbored both types of worm . Fourteen weeks after two 400 mg doses of albendazole were administered to infected children , the increases in weight , height , weight for age , height for age and weight for height were significantly higher among infected children than controls who were uninfected at baseline . The observed gains were independent of sex and socioeconomic status . Decrease in log transformed Trichuris intensity correlated with increases in weight ( r=0.24 ; p=0.02 ) and weight for age ( r=0.20 ; p=0.06 ) but decrease in Ascaris intensity did not correlate with increases in any of the anthropometric parameters . The results suggest that antihelminthic treatment has beneficial short-term effects on growth and nutritional status of a modest magnitude among early primary schoolchildren in the area Introduction : Helminth ( worm ) infections cause morbidity among poor communities worldwide . An influential study conducted in Kenya in 1998–99 reported that a school-based drug- and -educational intervention had benefits for worm infections and school attendance . Methods : In this statistical replication , we re-analysed data from this cluster quasi-r and omized stepped-wedge trial , specifying two co- primary outcomes : school attendance and examination performance . We estimated intention-to-treat effects using year-stratified cluster- summary analysis and observation-level r and om-effects regression , and combined both years with a r and om-effects model accounting for year . The participants were not blinded to allocation status , and other interventions were concurrently conducted in a sub-set of schools . A protocol guiding outcome data collection was not available . Results : Quasi-r and omization result ed in three similar groups of 25 schools . There was a substantial amount of missing data . In year-stratified cluster- summary analysis , there was no clear evidence for improvement in either school attendance or examination performance . In year-stratified regression models , there was some evidence of improvement in school attendance [ adjusted odds ratios ( aOR ) : year 1 : 1.48 , 95 % confidence interval ( CI ) 0.88–2.52 , P = 0.147 ; year 2 : 1.23 , 95 % CI 1.01–1.51 , P = 0.044 ] , but not examination performance ( adjusted differences : year 1 : −0.135 , 95 % CI −0.323–0.054 , P = 0.161 ; year 2 : −0.017 , 95 % CI −0.201–0.166 , P = 0.854 ) . When both years were combined , there was strong evidence of an effect on attendance ( aOR 1.82 , 95 % CI 1.74–1.91 , P < 0.001 ) , but not examination performance ( adjusted difference −0.121 , 95 % CI −0.293–0.052 , P = 0.169 ) . Conclusions : The evidence supporting an improvement in school attendance differed by analysis method . This , and various other important limitations of the data , caution against over-interpretation of the results . We find that the study provides some evidence , but with high risk of bias , that a school-based drug-treatment and health-education intervention  improved school attendance and no evidence of effect on examination performance Summary Background In north India many pre-school children are underweight , many have intestinal worms , and 2–3 % die at ages 1·0–6·0 years . We used the state-wide Integrated Child Development Service ( ICDS ) infrastructure to help to assess any effects of regular deworming on mortality . Methods Participants in this cluster-r and omised study were children in catchment areas of 8338 ICDS-staffed village child-care centres ( under-5 population 1 million ) in 72 administrative blocks . Groups of four neighbouring blocks were cluster-r and omly allocated in Oxford between 6-monthly vitamin A ( retinol capsule of 200 000 IU retinyl acetate in oil , to be cut and dripped into the child 's mouth every 6 months ) , albendazole ( 400 mg tablet every 6 months ) , both , or neither ( open control ) . Analyses of albendazole  effects are by block ( 36 vs 36 clusters ) . The study spanned 5 calendar years , with 11 6-monthly mass-treatment days for all children then aged 6–72 months . Annually , one centre per block was r and omly selected 
    Output:
    
The prevalence of anemia was markedly changed after the program , particularly in the studies which implemented deworming with hygiene program , co-administration of iron and retinol .
Conclusion and Recommendation School based deworming program decreases prevalence of anemia and will contribute to reduction of anemia in the community .