10 Prophylactic chemotherapy represents the main strategy for control of the ND, using the available anti-helminthic drugs,

either alone or in combination, to reduce morbidity and the sustained transmission. Since some of Selleckchem ABT 263 these are broad-spectrum drugs that can simultaneously treat several diseases, their use represents an operationally feasible strategy, which is more effective than the individual treatment.10 The transmission of lymphatic filariasis occurs only in three urban areas of the Metropolitan region of Recife (PE): Recife, Jaboatão dos Guararapes and Olinda.12 Recife was the first Brazilian city to join the mass treatment program,13 followed by Olinda in 2005.13 The treatment regimen adopted in Brazil was the collective treatment with a single drug (dietilcarmabazine),

not in combination with an anti-helminthic drug (albendazol) which is recommended by the WHO.9 Thus, this study aimed to report the occurrence of intestinal parasitosis and filarial infection in a filariasis endemic area, and to discuss about the therapeutic regimen adopted in Brazil for the collective treatment of filariasis. The study was conducted in the Sapucaia neighborhood of Olinda city (PE). This municipal district is located six kilometers from the state capital and has an area of 37,9 km2 (98.13% of it is an urban area), where 377,779 inhabitants live in 123,954 permanent private households and 25,523 in subnormal agglomerates. Regarding the urban infrastructure, 105,546 households are served by the public water supply, 103,398 have their garbage collected by a cleaning service, 45,613 have an exclusive Dolutegravir ic50 bathroom and sewage system, 102,907 have electric energy provided by an electric power company (with measure system) and 32,370 have a nominal monthly income from one half to one minimum wage.14 We choose the Sapucaia neighborhood because it is a unit of collective treatment of the lymphatic filariasis global eradication program of the municipal district.13 We conducted a cross sectional study. The study population was constituted

of 5-18 year old school students enrolled in public schools in the Sapucaia neighborhood from 2009 to 2010. The Secretary of Education provided a listing of the 508 students aged 5-18 years and enrolled in the public municipal schools in the neighborhood. Sample size was check details calculated based on this population of 508 students; estimating a prevalence of 1.1% microfilaremia for the municipal district, a design effect = 1.0, a standard error = 1.6% and a 95% confidence interval we obtained n = 124. Taking into account the possibility of drop outs, we estimated a sample size of 149 students. Inclusion criteria were: belonging to the pre-determined age group and agreement of the child and his/her legal guardian to participate on the study by signing an informed consent. In order to enroll a larger number of participants we conducted educational lectures for the teachers, parents and students.