Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Rampant Parasitosis

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 2 2002 (IPS) - Eighty percent of the children in northwest Argentina suffer intestinal parasitosis, an illness related to the lack of clean water and sanitation, and hits poorly nourished children the hardest, reports the Ministry of Health. The parasites enter the human organism via the mouth or skin, through contact with contaminated soil or water. The parasites feed on the minerals and protein of the host organism.

The disease is manifest in a protruding abdomen and anemia, and when it attacks undernourished children, the prognosis can be very serious, leading in some cases to death, even though it is curable with medications, said doctor Néstor Gutiérrez, professor of parasitology at the National University of Tucumán, in northern Argentina.

The most common parasite in that region of the country is the 'ascaris', measuring 30 cm long. Each infected child can carry 30 to 300 of these parasites in the intestine.