Prevalencia y factores asociados a Strongyloides stercoralis en escolares de Manabí, 2022

Abstract

Strongyloides stercoralis causes strongyloidiasis, an endemic soil-transmitted helminthiasis in tropical and subtropical countries responsible for approximately 30 and 100 million cases worldwide, a neglected disease that also affects the school population. As an objective, it was proposed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with Strongyloides stercoralis in schoolchildren from Manabí, Ecuador, 2022. The study was descriptive, experimental, cross-sectional. The sample consisted of 138 schoolchildren aged between 6-12 years. As a data collection instrument, a sociodemographic survey was applied in addition to the delivery of a collection container with explicit indications for the collection of the sample, evaluating its physical and chemical characteristics, directly with saline solution, Lugol, modified Bermann method and agar culture for nematodes. For data analysis, Microsfot Excel and the SPSS 20.0 statistical package were used to obtain prevalences and Chi-square calculations with p < 0.05. As a result, a general prevalence of S. stercoralis of 3.62% was found, the female sex was the most affected (2.17%) whose outstanding age group was 6 to 8 years (1.45%), compared to risk factors, 10.71% did not wear shoes and 8.33% had animals at home, both with statistical significance of 0.047 and 0.035 (<0.05) respectively. In conclusion, despite being a neglected disease, it is not without lethality within endemic populations, therefore, diagnosis and timely treatment for strongyloidiasis is necessary to save lives