Acceso a agua potable, protección ambiental y parasitismo intestinal infantil en El Codito. Bogotá, Colombia / Access to drinking water, environmental protection and intestinal parasites in pediatric patients from the neighborhood El Codito in Bogotá, Colombia

RESUMEN Objetivos Establecer la relación entre parasitismo intestinal en niños menores de 6 años y vivienda en áreas de protección ambiental, sin servicio de acueducto, en El Codito -Bogotá, Colombia. Métodos Estudio de corte transversal que incluyó 144 niños entre los 4 y 70 meses de edad. Se recolectaron datos sociodemográficos encuestando a los padres y se tomaron muestras fecales de los niños. Se calcularon medidas descriptivas de las variables por tipo de población (parasitada y no parasitada) estableciendo diferencias estadísticamente significativas. Utilizando una regresión logística binomial multivariada se determinó la relación entre parasitismo intestinal y servicio de acueducto, controlando por las demás variables estudiadas. Resultados Se encontró una prevalencia de parasitismo intestinal de 38,9%. La falta de servicio de acueducto estuvo asociada a parasitismo (OR=31,25) ajustando por las demás variables estudiadas. Otras variables asociadas a parasitismo fueron: afiliación al régimen de salud subsidiado al compararla con el contributivo (OR=1,49), presencia de animales en la vivienda (OR=2,58), madres con oficio técnico-profesional al compararlas con madres con oficios no calificados (OR=0,05) y vivienda en habitación rentada al compararla con vivienda propia (OR=6,62). Conclusiones Los niños menores de 6 años viviendo en áreas protegidas sin servicio de acueducto presentaron con mayor frecuencia parasitismo intestinal. Si bien es claro que el establecimiento de áreas protegidas para preservar el medio ambiente es esencial, si no se previene el asentamiento de poblaciones en estos territorios a tiempo, la población que habita en los mismos está sujeta a condiciones adversas que atentan contra la dignidad humana.(AU)

ABSTRACT Objective To establish the correlation between intestinal parasitism in children younger than 6 years old and their dwelling in environmental protected areas without aqueduct service, in the neighborhood El Codito, in Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was done with 144 children between the ages of 4 and 70 months. Socio-demographic data were collected by surveying parents, and fecal samples were taken from the children to identify parasites. Descriptive measures were calculated for the variables by population type (parasitized and non-parasitized), establishing significant differences. Using a binary multivariate logistic regression, the correlation between intestinal parasitism and aqueduct was determined, adjusting the other studied variables. Results The prevalence of intestinal parasitism was 38.9%. The lack of aqueduct service was associated with intestinal parasitism (OR=31.25) after adjusting for other studied variables, which included affiliation to the subsidized health insurance regime compared with the contributory regime (OR= 1.49), home pets (OR= 2.58), mothers with professional jobs compared to mothers with non-professional jobs (OR=0.05), and dwelling in a rented room when compared with own dwelling (OR= 6.62). Conclusions Children under the age of 6 living in protected areas without water service were more likely to suffer from intestinal parasitism. It is known that preserving protected areas to protect the environment is of great importance, but if the settlement of populations in these territories is not prevented in time, the population living there is subject to adverse conditions which violate human dignity.(AU)

Diagnostic tests for amoebic liver abscess: comparison of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE)

The liver abscess is the most frequent extraintestinal complication of intestinal amoebiasis: its diagnosis is suggested by the clinical picture but it must be confirmed by paraclinic tests. Themost stringent diagnosis requires identification of E. histolytica. But this is possible only in a few cases. Serological tests greatly improve the diagnosis of this severe complication of amoebiasis. We compared the Enzyme Linfed Immunosorbent Assay and the Counterimmunoelectrophoresis techniques. Both techniques were used to detect amoebic antibodies in 50 control patients, 30 patients with liver abscess and 30 patients with intestinal amoebiasis. All the sera from control patients gave negative results in both techniques. When analysing the sera from patients with intestinal amoebiasis, 10 per cent of them were positive by ELISA but non by CIE. The sera of patients with liver abscess, we found that 90 per cent were positive by the ELISA method and 66.6 per cent by the CIE technique. In patients with amoebic liver abscess, the results showed that the ELISA was more sensitive than the CIE, as it presented a higher sensitivity (100 per cent) than that of the CIE technique (66 per cent).