Prevalence of Intestinal Coccidia and Microsporidia in an Indigenous Community, State of Zulia, Venezuela

In order to determine the prevalence of intestinal coccidia and microsporidia, fecal samples from individuals of an indigenous community in Perijá, State of Zulia, Venezuela, were studied. One-hundred seventy-two (172) fecal sam ples from people of both genders between 1 month and 86 years of age we...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zulbey Rivero, Angela Bracho, Karen Huerta, Ismael Uribe, Jorelys González
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Spanish
Published: Universidad del Zulia,Facultad de Medicina,Departamento de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Tropicales 2013
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Online Access:https://doaj.org/article/162196b076414234933013cb0521f797
Description
Summary:In order to determine the prevalence of intestinal coccidia and microsporidia, fecal samples from individuals of an indigenous community in Perijá, State of Zulia, Venezuela, were studied. One-hundred seventy-two (172) fecal sam ples from people of both genders between 1 month and 86 years of age were subjected to macroscopic and microscopic examination with physiological saline, Lugol and formalin-ether concentration. Only 145 underwent Kinyoun and gram-chromotrope stains. The following species were identified: Cystoisospora belli in 3 individuals (2.07%); Cryptosporidium spp. in 2 cases (1.38%); Cyclosporacayetanensis in 1 case (0.69%); and microsporidia spores in 5 people (3.45%). Most of those infected with coccidia and intestinal microsporidia (9/11) had associations with other parasitic species, mainly protozoa. A high percentage (54.54%) of the coccidian and microsporidia carriers provided samples of diarrheal and liquid consistency with mucus and were persons included in risk groups (children and elderly). Re sults emphasize the need fordiagnosis by special stains for intestinal coccidia and microsporidia, even inimmuno competent and low-risk individuals, such as the indigenous studied.