Prevalence of Enteroparasites in Two Communities of Santa Rosa de Agua in Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela 2006

• Published in: Kasmera 2007-06, Vol.35 (1), p.38-48
• Main Authors: Marinella Calchi, Zulbey Rivero, Ellen Acurero, Iris Díaz, Glenis Chourio, Angela Bracho, Adriana Maldonado, Bianca Fernández, Mercy Fernández, Jesús González, Rafael Villalobos
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• Subjects: Enteroparasitosis, prevalencia, Santa Rosa de Agua
• ISSN: 0075-5222; 2477-9628

To determine the prevalence of enteroparasites in two communities of Santa Rosa de Agua, Zulia State, 216 faecal samples from both male and female individuals were analyzed, whose ages ranged from 1 month to 73 years. A direct coproparasitological test was performed on each faecal specimen using physiological saline solution, temporary coloration with Lugol’s solution and Formol-Ether as a concentration method; to search for intestinal coccidian, Kinyoun tincture was applied. A statistical chi-square method was applied to analyze the results. A high percentage of individuals with parasites were observed (86.58%), predominantly polyparasitism (68.98%) associated with commensal and pathogenic species. Regarding the age group, the majority of those classified as young adults (20 to 39 years) were infected with parasites (20.83%). The ji-squared method demonstrated that there is no significant dependency between the presence of enteroparasites and sex (gender); when relating the age groups with parasite infections, a dependency between these two variables was found. The most frequent protozoan species were: Blastocystis hominis (64.07%), Entamoeba coli (26.73%), Giardia lamblia (22.45%). In terms of helminths, Trichuris trichiura (56.68%), Ascaris lumbricoides (44.09%), Hymenolepis nana (5,34%) had the highest incidence. It has been found that both communities in Santa Rosa de Agua show a high prevalence of parasites, a situation previously observed in some other communities with low or poor socio-sanitary and hygienic conditions.