Parasites in South Bahia: Focus on Giardiasis and Ascariasis among Preschoolers of Itabuna

Abstract

Intestinal parasites present close relationship with sanitary conditions water supply and hygiene habits which pose an important problem of public health with high prevalence among individuals with low socioeconomic status, especially in the younger population. In the present paper the authors performed the diagnostic of intestinal parasites in stool examination of children aged up to six years of age assisted by three public education facilities between September 2011 and July 2012 by using the new method of Mariano & Carvalho. Positivity observed for intestinal parasites reached 77.2 %, with rates ranging from 78.0 %, 72.3 and 84.2 % for the institution A, B and C respectively. Among the positive samples, there was higher frequency of contamination by protozoa (51.2 %), especially for Giardia lamblia (31.2 %). Among the helminthes, the most common were Ascaris lumbricoides (28.8 %) and Trichuris trichiura (17.6 %). The high prevalence of intestinal parasites, both protozoa and helminthes, was significantly associated with eating raw foods without proper hygiene. These results demonstrate the need for improved hygiene habits in parasitism prevention and adequate learning resources to teach preschoolers better habits of hygiene before the consumption of raw foods.

Geospatial distribution of intestinal parasitic infections in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and its association with social determinants

“…Polyparasitism remains persistent in the country: 18.4% of such cases were reported in São Paulo [34], 49.2% in Mato Grosso do Sul [35], 26.7% in Paraná [36], 51.2% in Bahia [17]. These works all showed the high frequency of protozoa.…”

Enteric parasitic infections in children and dogs in resource-poor communities in northeastern Brazil: Identifying priority prevention and control areas

“…In the same geographical region canine infections vary between 35% [10] and 83% [11]. In Bahia, a northeastern state, the prevalence among children from 0 to 6 years varies between 37% [12] and 77% [13], and in dogs an average of 56% has been reported [14,15]. Coinfections are common in both populations and are influenced by the natural and social environment.…”

Molecular Characterization of Giardia lamblia: First Report of Assemblage B in Human Isolates from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)

“…In Brazil the prevalence of giardiasis varies dramatically between different regions of the country mainly due to its enormous expanse of territory [ 12 , 13 ]. Despite the high prevalence of the infection, the genetic characterization of the parasite has been poorly documented and molecular epidemiology research has been conducted in the last few years [ 12 , 14 – 19 ].…”

“…Most of the epidemiological studies detected G . lamblia on the basis of microscopic examination [ 13 , 20 – 22 ]. So far only one study was performed with Rio de Janeiro samples [ 23 ], consequently the G .…”