Intestinal parasites and poverty: the vulnerability of the poorest people in Argentina in a globalized World

The objective of this work was to show the parasitological profile of different populations settled in localities with dissimilar environmental features and socioeconomic contrasting realities. Three populations of La Plata county, Buenos Aires province, two suburban ones (LPS and LPN), and one from the urban downtown of the city (LPU); one from the Brandsen town, Buenos Aires province (BR), and one from Santa Rosa, La Pampa province (SR) were studied parasitological and environmentally. Canine feces and ground and water samples were analyzed parasitologically. A number of 683 fecal total samples were analyzed from which 81.4% were positive in LPS, 77.5% in LPN, 67.2% in SR, 63.9% in BR, and 45.3% in LPU. Populations with better socio-environmental conditions (LPU) were less parasitized by protozoa and helmints. The overcrowding, precarious housing and the use of latrines were the higher associated factors to parasitism, especially to the presence of geohelmints. Also, the SR dry weather associated to the geohelmint absence. Parasites in canine grounds were 42.1% in SR, 41.6% in LPN and 33.3% in LPS. Ground samples were positive for 91.3% LPU, 90.3% BR, 66.6% LPS and 53.5% LPN, and 60% of water samples in LPS and 100% in LPN presented cysts of commensal amoebas. Contributing data were transferred to the populations by means of workshops as a strategy that allowed to bring the situation near to the people and to discuss alternatives for its resolution