Prevalence of intestinal parasitoses in children at the Xingu Indian Reservation

To evaluate the prevalence of intestinal parasitoses in Native Brazilian children from 2 to 9 years old.

A search for ova and parasites was conducted in the stools of children between 2 to 9 years old living in six indigenous villages located in the Middle and Lower Xingu River, to wit: Pavuru, Moygu, Tuiararé, Diauarum, Capivara, and Ngojwere. The study utilized the Paratest kit® (Diagnostek, Brazil) to preserve collected stools. Fecal samples were shipped to the Laboratory of the Pediatric Gastroenterology Division of the UNIFESP/EPM, in São Paulo, for analysis. The search for ova and parasites was performed utilizing the Hoffman method, and later through optical microscopic evaluation. Fecal samples were collected one year apart from each other.

There were no significant statistical differences between the mean ages of the children from the six indigenous villages studied. The search for ova and parasites found positive results for the stools of 97.5% (198/202) and 96.1% (98/102) of children in the first and second collections, respectively. There was no statistical association with the children's age. The search performed one year later found no differences in the proportion of parasites identified in the first collection for protozoa (93.3% in 2007 versus 93.3% in 2008, McNemar = 0.01, p = 0.1) or for helminths (37.1% in 2007 versus 38.2% in 2008, McNemar = 0.03, p = 0.85). There were significant differences in prevalence of Entamoeba coli between 2007 (43.8%) and 2008 (61.8%) (McNemar Chi 6.1; p = 0.0135). There were no significant differences for other parasites when comparing the results of the two studies.

The high prevalence of intestinal parasitosis matched the elevated rates of environmental contamination in this indigenous community.