Intestinal parasitic infections, with a special emphasis on cryptosporidiosis, in Amerindians from western Venezuela

The prevalences of intestinal parasites and intensities of helminth infecti ons were studied in two Amerindian villages in Venezuela. Single stool spec imens were collected from 303 individuals from Saimadoyi and 130 from Campo Rosario. Wet mounts, iron-hematoxylin-stained smears, and formalin-ether c oncentrates were examined for the presence of parasites; modified Ziehl-Nee lsen carbol-fuchsin staining of 10% formalin-preserved stool was used to id entify Cryptosporidium parvum. Helminth ova counts were made using the stan dard smear egg count technique. Mixed infections (Campo Rosario = 69.9%, Sa imadoyi = 71.6%) were frequent. Overall infection rates with one or more sp ecies (Campo Rosario = 79.2%, Saimadoyi = 95.4%; P < 0.01) and with any pro tozoans (Campo Rosario = 60.8%, Saimadoyi = 72.3%; P < 0.05) were high and predominant (P < 0.05) in Saimadoyi. Cryptosporidiosis was identified in 38 subjects (8.8%) in both villages; 60.6% were asymptomatic carriers. The me an egg counts of helminths were heavier in Campo Rosario (P < 0.05), which was probably due to the drastic reduction of their lands along with their l ow standard of living. This study documents the change of intestinal parasi tism pattern and deterioration of the health of Amerindians by the process of acculturation.