Intestinal symptoms and Blastocystis load in schoolchildren of Paranaguá Bay, Paraná, Brazil

ABSTRACT The symptomatology of Blastocystis cannot be attributed to any particular subtype, although can be related to a high Blastocystis infection load. One stool sample from each of 217 schoolchildren of Vale de Sol Paranaguá Bay (Paraná, Brazil) was collected. Three milliliters of each fixed stool sample were processed applying the formalin-ether concentration technique. After obtaining the overall prevalence of intestinal parasites, quantification was carried out in Blastocystis positive samples. A total of 75/217 (34.6%) children suffered from intestinal symptoms (abdominal pain and/or...