ABSTRACT
The aims of this work were: 1.--to determine the intestinal helminth prevalence in children who live and attend primary schools in Santa Fe city. 2.--to characterize the socio-cultural and sanitary aspects of the children studied and consequently to group them in three supposed strata (hypo, meso and hyperendemic). The study was carried out during 1998. Considering the following variables: kind of streets, sewers and water supplies, parents' educational levels, satisfied or unsatisfied basic needs, the city was divided in three strata, according to the intestinal helminthic prevalence expected: 1--hypoendemic (< 25 percento), 2--mesoendemic (25-75 percento) and 3--hyperendemic (> 75 percento). Schools with children of both sexes, and ages between 5 and 13 who belonged to each one of the supposed strata, were identified. A direct parasitic examination and a Kato Katz technique were performed on a stool specimen of each selected child. An epidemiological survey was answered by the children's parents. The prevalence of helminths and geohelminths, with 95 percento confidence intervals, were respectively: total sample (n = 163). 36.2percento and 34.4 percento; stratum 1 (n1 = 60) 0 percento and 0 percento; stratum 2 (n2 = 70) 41 percento (29.9-52.9) y 38.6 percento (27.2-50.0) and stratum 3 (n3 = 33) 91 percento (81.1-100) and 87.9 percento (76.6-99.2). The above-mentioned variables, related to the socio-cultural and sanitary aspects, allowed to identify three well defined strata: hypoendemic, mesoendemic and hyperendemic, according to the different helminth prevalence detected among pupils who attend primary level school in Santa Fe city.