Tungíase: doença negligenciada causando patologia grave

Heukelbach et al – Tungiasis in Alagoas State, Brazil
of relative frequencies. As data were not normally
distributed, the median and the interquartile ranges
were used to indicate the average and the
dispersion of data. Significance of differences
between quantitative measurements was
calculated by the Mann-Whitney test.
Ethical Aspects
Ethical clearance was obtained from the
Ethical Committee of the School of Health
Sciences of Alagoas (Escola de Ciências Médicas
de Alagoas), the responsible ethical body in
Alagoas State, as well as from an ad hoc ethical
committee of the health department of the
municipality of Feliz Deserto. Prior to the study,
meetings were held with politicians, community
leaders, and health care workers to explain the
objectives of the study. All participants were
informed about the study and gave their written
consent. In the case of minors, the legal guardians
were asked for written consent. Superinfected
lesions were treated with topical antibiotic ointment
or oral Roxithromycin (Floxid®, two doses of 150
mg over 5 days, Solvay Farma, São Paulo, Brazil).
If other skin diseases were diagnosed during the
surveys, the patients were referred to the primary
health care centre of Feliz Deserto, where
treatment is available free of charge.
Results
In the first survey in the rainy season
(June/July 2003), 1,015 individuals of the target
population of 1,146 (88.6%) were encountered and
examined. During the second survey in the dry
season (October/November 2003), 990 of 1,169
(91.1%) individuals were examined.
The overall prevalence of tungiasis was 21.6%
in the rainy and 29.5% in the dry season
(p