Prevalence of intestinal parasites versus knowledge, attitudes, and practices of inhabitants of low-income communities of Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Intestinal parasites are the causative agents of common infections responsible for significant public health problems in developing countries and generally linked to lack of sanitation, safe water, and improper hygiene. More than two billion people throughout the world live with unrelenting illness due to intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs). The purposes of this study are to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices on IPIs and investigate the relationship with prevalence of intestinal parasites among a lowincome group of inhabitants from two communities of the Travess??o District area, Campos dos Goytacazes, north of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The two communities are known as ???Parque Santu??rio,??? which is an urban slum with miserable living conditions, and ???Arraial,??? where the socioeconomic and educational levels are better, neither having a sanitary infrastructure with an excreta collection system. Questionnaires revealed that both communities had local and specific codification to denominate the intestinal parasites and present correct knowledge on the theme but ignored some aspects of IPI transmission, with the Arraial population being better informed (p<0.05). The overall prevalence of IPIs in Parque Santu??rio (49.7%) was greater than in Arraial (27.2%) (p