Development of a methodology applied for environmental monitoring of soil transmitted helminths in municipal early childhood education centers as an extensionist strategy.

Abstract

Pediatric populations are more susceptible to acquiring soil-transmitted helminths. The main goals of this study were: i) to assess the sensitivity of a protocol for detecting helminth eggs in sandboxes of Municipal Early Childhood Education Centers (CMEI) through artificial contamination assays; ii) to apply the standardized methodology for monitoring helminth contamination in different MECEC, as a subside for educational activities in the school environment. The artificial contamination tests were performed in triplicate, where a known number of Ascaris suum eggs were inoculated into sterilized sand samples. The samples were homogenized in Triton™ X-100 solution by vortexing and subjected to centrifugal flotation in sucrose, and the slides were read under optical microscopy. After standardization, three sandbox sites of two MECEC were selected to search for helminths, monthly, for 10 months, totaling 30 samples, using the standardized protocol. The average recovery efficiency of the artificial contamination assays was 33.6%. All sandboxes showed contamination by helminth eggs.  Extension activities were carried out with children through playful activities such as telling stories about how helminths are transmitted, their development with the aid of a model of the human body, and identification of areas at risk for parasite contamination in the MECEC. The intervention was widely accepted by the students, reflecting in their daily school life with positive changes in their hygiene habits and prevention of intestinal parasites in the school environment.