Relationship between the presence of anemia and hookworm infection, on College students from “Ayopaya”, Puerto Villarroel-Cochabamba (Relación entre la presencia de anemia y la infección por uncinarias, en estudiantes del Colegio “Ayopaya”, Puerto Villarroel-Cochabamba)

Background: The hookworm is a worldwide distributed geohelminthinfection. It is produced by two species of nematodes, Ancylostomaduodenale and Necator americanus. It is estimated bothof them infect over 1000 million people. Although the symptomspresented by each type of parasitic infection have its particularities,uncinariasis is more related with the presence of anemia.Objective: To analyze the relationship between hookworm as acausal factor for anemia, and describe the type of clinical presentationin Ayopaya College students from Puerto Villarroel.Methods: A analytical, “case-control study” with 24 patients diagnosedwith hookworms and the same number of controls, they haveequal parity in gender, similar age, and were students of the sameschool, and residents of the same municipality.Results: Uncinariasis-anemia relationship was seen in only 50%of cases, all of them mild cases. Considering hookworm as a riskfactor for the development of anemia, it was estimated OR (2,1 to57,5).Conclusions: The prevalence of hookworm infection is still highin this location, but the relationship with anemia is almost 25%,The which may be due to another causal agent Necator Americanuswhich is not typically cause of anemia. It remained an indirectlyproportional relationship between the presence of clinical presentationwith increasing age. The risk factors that were identifi edthrough a structured questionnaire in the study sample. Both casesand controls, data were similar in both groups, so that associationscan not be made because the whole population is exposed to thesefactors. -RESUMEN: Introducción: La uncinariasis es una geohelmintiasis de ampliadistribución mundial. Está producida por dos especies de nematodos,Ancylostoma duodenale y Necator americanus; se estima queambos infectan a más de 1000 millones de personas. Ahora si bienla sintomatología que presenta cada tipo de infección por parásitostiene sus particularidades, en uncinariasis se relata la presencia deanemia.Objetivo: Analizar la relación entre la uncinariasis como un factorcausal de anemia y describir el tipo de presentación de la misma, enestudiantes del Colegio Ayopaya, de Puerto Villarroel.Material y Métodos: Estudio analítico “Casos y Controles” pareadocon 24 pacientes diagnosticados con uncinariasis y el mismonúmero de controles, con igual paridad en sexo, edades similares,y que eran estudiantes del mismo colegio y residentes del mismomunicipio.Resultados: Respecto a la relación uncinariasis y anemia, sólo fuevista en 50% de los casos, siendo esta leve. Teniendo en cuenta launcinariasis como un factor