Abstract

VERA DUARTE, Carolina Belén; FLORES MENDOZA, Jazmín Estefanía  and  ARIA ZAYA, Laura Silvana. Parents' level of knowledge about parasitosis in boys and girls. Rev. cient. cienc. salud [online]. 2025, vol.7, e7104.  Epub Feb 13, 2025. ISSN 2664-2891.  https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/2025.e7104.

Introduction. Intestinal parasitosis constitutes the involvement of the digestive tract by protozoa and helminths. These parasites represent a serious public health problem since they affect developing countries like ours. Objective. Determine the level of knowledge of parents about parasitosis in children who attend the National Hospital of Itaugua in 2024. Material and methods. A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out on 120 parents who attend the National Hospital of Itaugua. A survey was applied to identify sociodemographic data and the level of knowledge of parents about general aspects of parasitosis. Results. 120 parents participated in the study. 70.83% belonged to the female sex. Regarding knowledge about parasitosis, 68.33% correctly identified that worms are the causal agent, while 30% correctly mentioned protozoa. 64.17% recognized diseases such as Giardiasis, taeniasis and Oxuriasis as parasitic. In addition, 70% indicated that diarrhea is a symptom of parasitosis, and 66.66% stated that it can cause malnutrition. Regarding prevention and knowledge about parasites, the levels were greater than 60%. Lastly, 34.17% had heard about the “Jaityke Sevo’i” National Campaign, mainly through the Hospital (39%). Conclusion. Knowledge about childhood intestinal parasitosis is limited in some general aspects, but is remarkably high in terms of the consequences of the disease and preventive measures.

Keywords : parasitosis; deworming; parents; knowledge.

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