Epidemiology of poly-parasitism. II. Types of combinations, relative frequency and associations of multiple...

Frequency distributions, including all of the observed types of combinations of multiple infections with different helminths and protozoa are presented for sample villages of the African Savannah and of the trans-Andean part of Peru. Measurements of correlation between these infections based on properties of the multivariate, multinomial distribution are calculated to show age and sex patterns of association in different population samples. A correlation matrix for combined infections with Dipetalonema perstans, D. streptocerca and Loa loa, in villages in the rain forest of Zaire indicates that there is a statistically significant association between the two species of Dipetalonema and L. loa. There is also a strong association between the numbers of the microfilariae of D. perstans and D. streptocerca in multiply infected individuals. This correlation is strong only in the rain forest; it is insignificant in the other ecological zones of Bas-Zaire included in the study. The data suggest that there may be selective host factors that influence the extent, distribution and the types of multiple infections in a community.