The authors declare no conflicts of interest. We thank the financial support received from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (REUNI) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq). “
“Neglected diseases (ND) are a set of diseases caused by parasitic agents that

lead to significant physical, cognitive and socioeconomic harms in children and adolescents, mainly among low income communities.1 They represent selleck kinase inhibitor a public health challenge, particularly those, such as filariasis, which impact on morbidity and can cause severe and long term disability.2 The geographic distribution and development of the ND are closely related to poverty in consequence to the scarcity of basic sanitation, and are associated to other health problems.3 and 4

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers as a public health problem a set of 17 different ND distributed in 148 countries. Of these, 100 are endemic for two or more of these diseases, and six countries for six or more ND.5 Nine of them are present in Brazil2 and 6 and seven of these diseases are considered as priorities by the Health Ministry (dengue, Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, malaria, schistosomiasis, GSK1349572 purchase leprosy and tuberculosis).6 The state of Pernambuco has Progesterone developed intervention strategies for the reduction and eradication of the following diseases: Chagas disease, leprosy, schistosimiasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis, geohelminthiasis and tuberculosis.7 In Brazil, lymphatic filariasis is endemic only in the metropolitan region of Recife, state of Pernambuco.8 The efforts to eradicate this disease must focus on the prevention, the early treatment of infected individuals and the control or stabilization of the morbid complications of the infection.9 Infections with soil-transmitted helminths (geohelminthiasis) impose a great burden on the poor populations worldwide.

The WHO considers priorities for large-scale treatment programs the parasitic diseases caused by Ascaris lumbricoides, Ancylostoma duodenale, Necator americanus and Trichuris trichiura. 10 Schistosomiasis is another disease that causes harm to the exposed population, and the collective treatment is also considered a control strategy by the WHO. 10 There are few studies on the prevalence of intestinal parasitosis in Pernambuco. In 2005 the National Plan for Surveillance and Control of Intestinal Parasitic Diseases identified few studies, conducted with different methods and heterogeneous populations, which showed prevalence ranging from 23.3% and 66.3% among school-aged children or those who attended public health services.