Prevalence of intestinal parasites in preschool children in the region of Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Main Authors: Ana Lúcia Ribeiro Gonçalves, Talita Lucas Belizário, Janderson de Brito Pimentel, Mário Paulo Amante Penatti, Reginaldo dos Santos Pedroso
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical (SBMT) 2011-04-01
• Series: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Subjects: Parasitas intestinais; Creches; Educação em saúde
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822011000200013&lng=en&tlng=en

INTRODUCTION: Children are an important high-risk group for helminth and protozoa infections. Daycare centers are environments where children have proven to be more susceptible to acquiring intestinal parasites. Thus, the purpose of this study was to verify the prevalence of intestinal parasites in children who attended the two daycare centers maintained by the local government of Uberlândia, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: Fecal samples were collected from 133 children (73 children at the Public Preschool for Early Childhood Education, PPECE A, and 60 at the PPECE B) following identification according to sex and age and agreement to participate by parents or guardians who signed the free, informed consent form. The samples were examined by the Lutz method. RESULTS: Coproparasitological tests performed on 133 children showed that 29.3% of them were parasitized for enteroparasites or commensals, 6.7% of the children presented polyparasitism. Among the protozoa, Giardia lamblia were the most prevalent and Hymenolepis nana were the most frequent among the helminths. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, analysis of the results showed that intestinal parasites still represent a public health problem, especially among children and in areas where the socioeconomic and educational conditions are less favorable.