Boletín de Malariología y Salud Ambiental
versión impresa ISSN 1690-4648
Resumen
GUILLEN, Adalitza et al. Presence of intestinal protozoans in water of consumption in “18 de Mayo Community”. Aragua State-Venezuela. 2011. Bol Mal Salud Amb [online]. 2013, vol.53, n.1, pp.29-36. ISSN 1690-4648.
The transmission of intestinal parasites through water represents one of the world’s most prominent public health problems. Water is one of the most important renewable resources for the man, for its usefulness, abundance and wide distribution in the nature, but human and animal excretion contamination in potable water favors the transmission of parasitic infections. In order to determinate the presence of intestinal protozoans in drinking water from the deep-wells and in 10 selected houses in the 18 de Mayo community of Francisco Linares Alcantara municipality, Aragua State, two 20 liter water samples were taken and processed through the concentration by flocculation technique for direct observation using physiological saline solution and lugol, and the Kinyoun coloration technique. Additionally, physicochemical analysis was conducted on the well water. Pathogenic and commensal protozoans were observed in 90% of the analyzed samples. Cysts of Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba coli and Endolimax nana were found in the deep-well sample but not intestinal coccidia and microsporidia. The disinfection of the well water that supplies this community is really important, and it is recommended that the community’s drinking water be routinely treated.
Palabras clave : Water of human consumption; intestinal protozoans; transmission.