Awareness and understanding of risk factors for intestinal parasitic infections at a public university in southern Brazil

Abstract

Intestinal parasitoses are highly prevalent in underdeveloped countries such as Brazil. These infirmities may be analyzed looking at the epidemiological triad of the diseases, which consists of host health, the parasite itself and the environment in question. This study aimed to identify the presence of predisposing factors for contamination by enteroparasites in the students of a public university in the South of Brazil. A transversal and descriptive study was carried out with qualitative and quantitative components, and data prospection by means of a questionnaire answered by the students. Only 63.9% of the subjects wash their hands before meals. However, the most alarming factor observed was the environmental instance as the university restroomsare often unclean, which was reported in 99.0% of the questionnaires.KEY WORDS: Intestinal parasites; undergraduate students; health-education