A Parasitological Survey of Natural Water Springs and Inhabitants of a Tourist City in Southeastern Brazil

Abstract

The goals of this study were to investigate the occurrence of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in main springs of Campos do Jordão, an important tourist city, in Brazil and to gather the largest amount of parasitological data from autochthonous population that live in rural areas of this city. The membrane filtration technique followed by direct immunofluorescence assay was employed for concentration and visualization of waterborne protozoa. In the period between June 2003 and May 2004, the presence of at least one pathogenic protozoa was detected in 25.0% (3/12) of the springs studied, with mean concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 0.3 Cryptosporidium sp. oocysts and 0.07 to 0.1 Giardia sp. cysts/L. The coproparasitological investigation conducted in dwellers from two rural communities from this city revealed that 49.2% (91/185) of people had intestinal parasites. Among pathogenic protozoa, Cryptosporidium was the most prevalent species (8.1%) followed by Giardia duodenalis (5.9%), Entamoeba histolytica/Entamoeba dispar (2.7%), and Blastocystis hominis (2.2%). The most prevalent geohelminths were Ascaris lumbricoides (14.9%) and Trichuris trichiura (9.7%). This study demonstrated the contamination and the distribution of intestinal parasites, especially Cryptosporidium and Giardia species, in different springs of an important tourist city in Brazil, highlighting the need of monitoring natural water sources. The high prevalence of intestinal parasitosis detected in some specific populations of this city may function as a link of transmission of different intestinal parasitosis due to soil and water contamination, contributing to the maintenance of parasite life cycles. Therefore, the inclusion of consistent public health interventions with measures that include the protection of springs, the installation of minimum health infrastructure, and primary education of the population are widely necessary, aiming the control and prevention of parasite infections.

Genetic-based investigation of three prevalent waterborne protozoa parasites in drinking water sources in Daloa district in Côte d’Ivoire

“…In developing countries, the prevalence of giardiasis in patients with diarrhea is about 20% and range from 5 to 43% (WHO, 2006). The prevalence of 41.2% of pathogenic protozoa observed in natural sources seems in accordance with what is generally found in developing country but very high compared to the 25% prevalence observed in a similar study in Brazil (Branco et al, 2012). Another study conducted in Egypt in the same context described a prevalence of 76% (Hanne et al, 2009).…”

“…Thus, the prevalence of the pathogens detected in water sources can be very variable depending on the country but also on the detection techniques used. Microscopy techniques used by Branco (Branco et al, 2012) are recognized to underestimate the true prevalence of protozoan parasite compared to technology by molecular or genetic tools. Other methods do exist: Method 1623 is the procedure currently approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) for the detection of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in water and have been successfully used to recover and detect waterborne parasite in different water sources (Le Chevalier et al, 1995;Stinear et al, 1996;Lowery et al, 2000;Rimhanen-Finen et al, 2002).…”

Real scale environmental monitoring of zoonotic protozoa and helminth eggs in biosolid samples in Brazil

“…So, the samples were collected every 45 days during a 1 year period. For each sample, a test was performed to evaluate the sensitivity of the methodology used (a positive control) by processing a sample that had been artificially contaminated with known amounts of cysts and oocysts (Branco et al 2012). This sensitivity control was processed simultaneously with the raw sample.…”

“…Artificially contaminated samples with cysts and oocysts (positive control) All biosolid aliquots were artificially contaminated using a purified suspension containing a known concentration of cysts and oocysts and then subjected to the same procedures outlined above (Parasitological Analysis), according to the procedure as described by Branco et al (2012). The average inoculum concentration used when artificially contaminating the samples followed a predetermined order of magnitude: 10 4 for cysts and 10 3 for oocysts.…”

Waterborne Giardia and Cryptosporidium: contamination of human drinking water by sewage and cattle feces

“…in humans are restricted to children and the immunosuppressed individuals. Timely studies conducted in urban and rural areas identified prevalence rates ranging from 0.03% to 12.9%, with the highest rates being in children attending daycare centers (GONÇALVES et al, 2006;ANARUMA FILHO et al, 2007;BRANCO et al, 2011;LANDER et al, 2012;ROLANDO et al, 2012). However, in children with diarrhea, the prevalence tends to increase, with rates ranging from 18.7% to 32.4% (PEREIRA et al, 2002;NASCIMENTO et al, 2009).…”