Abstract
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. 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. 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. 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.
Highlights
Children are an important high-risk group for helminth and protozoa infections
Polyparasitism occurred with Endolimax nana and Entamoeba hartmanni (1 occurrence), Entamoeba coli and Iodamoeba butschlii (2 occurrences), Giardia lamblia and E. nana (4 occurrences), G. lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica (1 occurrence), Hymenolepis nana and G. lamblia (1 occurrence)
The results revealed that G. lamblia, E. nana and E. coli showed higher prevalence
Summary
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. The incidence of intestinal parasites is known to be high, generally affecting human health and causing great public health concern[1,2]. This is more common especially in developing or underdeveloped countries, in which actions to control enteroparasites are made more difficult by the financial costs of technical measures (infrastructure) and due to the lack of educational projects that provide the population with information[3,4]. Daycare centers are environments where children have proven to be more susceptible to acquiring intestinal parasites, due to the facility of interpersonal contact (childchild, child-functionary), poorly-trained staff and inadequate hygiene conditions inherent in children[4,7].
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