{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,5]],"date-time":"2026-06-05T00:46:29Z","timestamp":1780620389907,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene","issue":"5","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2012,11,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Rapid and accurate identification of the prevalence of schistosomiasis is key for control and eradication of this devastating disease. The current screening standard for intestinal schistosomiasis is the Katz-Kato method, which look for eggs on slides of fecal matter. Although work has been done to estimate prevalence using the number of eggs on a slide, the procedure is much faster if the laboratory only reports the presence or absence of eggs on each slide. To further help reduce screening costs while maintaining accuracy, we propose a <jats:italic>pooled<\/jats:italic> method for estimating prevalence. We compare it to the standard <jats:italic>individualed<\/jats:italic> method, investigating differences in efficiency, measured by the number of slides read, and accuracy, measured by mean square error of estimation. Complication is introduced by the unknown and varying sensitivity of the procedure with population prevalence. The DeVlas model for the worm and egg distributions in the population describes how test sensitivity increases with age of the epidemic, as prevalence and intensity of infection increase, making the problem fundamentally different from earlier work in pooling. Previous literature discusses varying sensitivity with the number of positive samples within a pool, known as the \u201cdilution effect.\u201d We model both the dilution effect and varying sensitivity with population prevalence. For model parameter values suited to younger age groups, the <jats:italic>pooled<\/jats:italic> method has less than half the mean square error of the <jats:italic>individualed<\/jats:italic> method. Thus, we can use half as many slides while maintaining accuracy. Such savings might encourage more frequent measurements in regions where schistosomiasis is a serious but neglected problem.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4269\/ajtmh.2012.12-0216","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,9,21]],"date-time":"2012-09-21T15:15:22Z","timestamp":1348240522000},"page":"850-861","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Pooled Testing for Effective Estimation of the Prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni"],"prefix":"10.4269","volume":"87","author":[{"given":"Shira","family":"Mitchell","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcello","family":"Pagano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2795","reference":[{"key":"R1","series-title":"Guidelines for the Evaluation of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis and Schistosomiasis at the Community Level","author":"Montresor","year":"1998"},{"key":"R2","series-title":"Parasitol Today","first-page":"274","article-title":"Underestimation of Schistosoma mansoni prevalences","volume":"8","author":"de Vlas","year":"1992"},{"key":"R3","series-title":"Trop Med Int Health","first-page":"647","article-title":"Rapid assessment of Schistosoma mansoni: the validity, applicability and cost-effectiveness of the lot quality assurance sampling method in Uganda","volume":"10","author":"Brooker","year":"2005"},{"key":"R4","series-title":"Biometrics","first-page":"231","article-title":"Robustness of group testing in the estimation of proportions","volume":"55","author":"Hung","year":"1999"},{"key":"R5","series-title":"Parasitology","first-page":"451","article-title":"A model for variations in single and repeated egg counts in Schistosoma mansoni infections","volume":"104","author":"de Vlas","year":"1992"},{"key":"R6","series-title":"Trop Med Int Health","article-title":"Effective Classification of the Prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni","author":"Mitchell","year":"2012"},{"key":"R7","series-title":"Parasitol Today","first-page":"305","article-title":"A pocket chart to estimate true Schistosoma mansoni prevalences","volume":"9","author":"de Vlas","year":"1993"},{"key":"R8","series-title":"Environ Ecol Stat","first-page":"213","article-title":"Estimating prevalence using composites","volume":"8","author":"Colon","year":"2001"},{"key":"bib9","series-title":"Biometrika","first-page":"287","article-title":"On the informativeness and accuracy of pooled testing in estimating prevalence of a rare disease: application to HIV screening","volume":"82","author":"Tu","year":"1995"},{"key":"R10","series-title":"Appl Stat","first-page":"105","article-title":"Debiased estimation of proportions in group testing","volume":"58","author":"Hepworth","year":"2009"},{"key":"R11","series-title":"Phytopathology","first-page":"363","article-title":"Improved estimation of pathogen transmission rates by group testing","volume":"77","author":"Burrows","year":"1987"},{"key":"R12","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"706","article-title":"Evaluation of the Kato-Katz thick smear and formal ether sedimentation techniques for quantitative diagnosis of Schistosoma mansoni infection","volume":"57","author":"Ebrahim","year":"1997"},{"key":"R13","series-title":"T Royal Soc of Tro Med H","first-page":"645","article-title":"Validation of a model for variations in Schistosoma mansoni egg counts","volume":"86","author":"de Vlas","year":"1992"},{"key":"R14","series-title":"The Engineering Handbook","author":"Dorf","year":"2005"},{"key":"R15","series-title":"Trop Med Int Health","first-page":"372","article-title":"Epidemiology and geography of Schistosoma mansoni in Uganda: implications for planning control","volume":"9","author":"Kabatereine","year":"2004"},{"key":"R16","series-title":"Trop Med Int Health","first-page":"490","article-title":"Bayesian spatial analysis and disease mapping: tools to enhance planning and implementation of a schistosomiasis control programme in Tanzania","volume":"11","author":"Clements","year":"2006"},{"key":"R17","series-title":"PLoS Negl Trop Dis","first-page":"e431","article-title":"A comparative study of the spatial distribution of urinary schistosomiasis in Mali in 1984\u20131989 and 2004\u20132006","volume":"3","author":"Clements","year":"2009"},{"key":"R18","series-title":"Am J Trop Med Hyg","first-page":"561","article-title":"Human schistosomiasis in Cameroon. 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