Abstract
Introduction: Intestinal parasitism is still one of the most serious public health problems in Brazil, with school age children being the most affected, becoming lethal in many cases due to secondary diseases caused by parasitism. Objectives: To evaluate the occurrence of intestinal protozoa in students of a public day-care center located in the neighborhood of Varzea in Recife City of the State of Pernambuco between the years 2015 and 2017. Methodology: The research was carried out after the authorization of parents and / or guardians of children, after signing the informed consent form with the delivery of fecal samples. Protozoan research was carried out at the Parasitology Laboratory of the Tropical Medicine Department of UFPE, using the methods of Hoffman, Kinyoun for microscopy of Cryptosporidium spp and the method of direct examination for the microscopic analysis of the other protozooses. Results and Discussion: In the years 2015 and 2017 parasitological research involved a total of 30 and 33 children, with a positivity for 20% (6/30) and 21% (7/33) protozoa, respectively. Among the protozoonoses, the highest positivity in the year 2015 was for Cryptosporidium spp, where 67% (4/6) presented a positive sample, followed by Endolimax nana, where 33% (2/6) were diagnosed positively. On the other hand, the most frequent parasites in 2017 were Giardia lamblia, where 71% (5/7) of the children showed positivity and Cryptosporidium spp with 29% (2/7) of positive samples. Conclusion: When comparing the level of contamination of children by protozoa in the years 2015 and 2017, we observed that parasitism was maintained within the school environment, possibly due to the poor hygiene conditions of the nursery and / or the way some household environment.
Published Version
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