Ocorrência de enteroparasitoses e seus fatores de risco em indivíduos frequentadores de creche

Abstract

Intestinal parasites are considered a serious public health problem in developing countries, such as Brazil, affecting mainly low-income communities, which present precarious conditions of basic sanitation, in addition to low socioeconomic and educational level. These diseases have been used in several studies as socioeconomic markers, as they show the conditions of hygiene, health and basic sanitation to which the population is exposed. The most frequently affected individuals are children, attending daycare centers, in which parasitosis can cause gastrointestinal disorders, malnutrition and developmental constraints; Its transmission is associated with the lack of hygiene habits of the age and the greater exposure to reinfection conditions, favored by closed environments. In view of this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of enteroparasites in children from a community daycare center in the Rodolfo Teófilo neighborhood, in Fortaleza; as well as evaluating risk factors and promoting health education activities with the target community. Fecal samples were requested from the children of the Nova Vida nursery, with the municipality of Fortaleza, which receives 36 children in the age group from 1 to 3 years old. Eighteen samples were received, as well as personal data and indicators of socioeconomic level, schooling and basic sanitation of 21 children, having been part of fecal sampling or not. Of the 18 samples analyzed by the Hoffman's spontaneous sedimentation method, 6 (33.33%) were positive for one or more enteroparasites. The etiological agent was a protozoan in 100% of the cases. In relation to parasites, 1 sample (16.67%) was positive for Giardia lamblia and Entamoeba histolytica; 1 sample (16.67%) was positive for E. histolytica and Entamoeba coli; and 4 samples (66.66%) presented monoparasitism by G. lamblia. As for sex, parasites were found in 2 (22.22%) of the 9 samples of female children and in 4 (44.44%) of the 9 samples of male children. Given the local character of the study, the percentage of positive results in the samples evaluated was quite significant, especially if we consider the period of non-release of eggs and cysts, inherent to the biological cycle of parasites – often responsible for false-negative results.