Regional Differences in Intestinal Parasitic Infections among Army Recruits in a Southern Mozambique Training Center: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Due to the high prevalence and diversity of clinical manifestations, intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) represent a public health problem. The objective of the work was to determine the prevalence of IPIs among army recruits at a practice and training center in southern Mozambique. Sociodemographic information was obtained through semi-structured interviews. Single urine and stool samples were collected from 362 recruits. Parasite diagnosis was made by filtration, formaldehyde-ether and Kato-Katz techniques. Positive individuals underwent abdominal ultrasound. Then, descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations were performed, and p-values < 0.05 were considered significant. The prevalence of infection with at least one parasite was 25.1% (95% CI: 20.5–29.6; n = 91). The most common parasites were Entamoeba coli (10.7%; 95% CI: 7.4–13.7; n = 37) and Trichuris trichiura (6.1%; 95% CI: 4.6–9.9; n = 25). Parasitic infection was associated with the origin of the participant (p-value < 0.001), and the province of Sofala had the highest prevalence among the provinces studied (70.6%; 95% CI: 47.0–87.8; 12/17). Since oral fecal transmission occurs for several parasites, routine screening and deworming prior to enrollment at the army training center is recommended to reduce transmission of intestinal parasites among recruits.