Objective:

To determine the prevalence of intestinal parasitism in children under 15 years of age belonging to the U’wa indigenous community in the municipality of Guican, Boyacá.

Methodology:

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted with 125 children under the age of 15, who belong to the Uwa indigenous community of the Güican municipality. The presence of intestinal parasites was evaluated through the implementation of two direct stool tests. Statistical analysis and processing were performed with the SPSS version 22 program.

Results:

The prevalence of parasites was 72% 95% CI (% -%). The most frequent parasites were Blastocystis spp (43.3%), Entamoeba histolytica / dispar (35.5%), Ascaris lumbricoides (12.2%), and Giardia intestinalis (11.1%). The non-pathogenic parasites found were Entamoeba coli (30%), Endolimax nana (24.4%), and Iodamoeba bütschlii (5.5%). Polyparasitism was 50%, which was associated with being less than 7 years old and having more than 4 clinical manifestations.

Conclusions:

Indigenous communities are considered a vulnerable population since they do not have basic health services and they present a high prevalence of infectious diseases, especially in children under 15 years of age, which can generate some complications. This study revealed the dynamics of parasitic infections in this indigenous community, which have implications for public health and in the context of the health-disease, to carry out interventions in a comprehensive way in order to improve health status.

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