Resumen

GOMEZ, Jesús et al. Influencia del tipo de vivienda y del tamaño deasentamiento de comunidades indígenas piaroa en la transmisión de helmintos intestinales. INCI [online]. 2004, vol.29, n.7, pp.389-395. ISSN 0378-1844.

The situation of some intestinal helminthiasis was investigated among the Piaroa indians from the Amazonas State, Venezuela, a group whose settlement and spatial occupation patterns have changed in recent years. Communities of this ethnic group with two different housing types and settlement sizes were compared. A set of smaller, less-acculturated communities with houses made of mud walls, palm thatch roof and dirt floor (indigenous housing type), located in an upriver region was compared to a set of larger, more-acculturated communities with houses made of cement-block walls, zinc roof and poured cement floor (western housing type) located in downriver areas or along roadways. In each community, one fecal sample was collected from each dweller and kept in Raillet & Henry´s solution for analysis. In the case of hookworms higher frequencies of parasitized individuals were found associated with the indigenous housing type, but with low infection levels. For A. lumbricoides no association was found between housing type and presence of the parasite; however, low infection levels are associated to the indigenous housing type. For T. trichiura there was no association between housing type and this helminth. Individuals who inhabit the western housing type present higher parasitic loads independently of the helminth species. With larger community size the parasitic load increases, as do the number of infected people. The results indicate that changes in traditional lifestyle and settlement patterns, unaccompanied by the adequate habits, exacerbate the transmission of parasitic infections.

Palabras clave : Amazonas; Helmintos Intestinales; Piaroa; Vivienda.