Introduction.

Parasitic diseases represent a public health problem because of its high prevalence throughout the world, especially in developing countries, particularly in rural areas and Bolivia is no exception.

Objective.

Therefore, the present study had the objective of determining the frequency and distribution of enteroparasites in eight municipalities of La Paz between August and September in 2014.

Materials and methods.

This was a cross-sectional-descriptive study with a universe of 1238 formalin-preserved stool samples, which were sent for analysis by the medical team of SUYANA (a non-profit organization) to the Bolivian Institute of Health Diagnostic and Research Laboratory Services (SELADIS, acronym in Spanish).

Results.

Copro-parasitological studies of each sample and microscopic analysis were detected. As a result, prevalence of infection by any given enteroparasites were detected, 89.5% of protozoans (B. hominis, E. coli (commensal protozoa) and 97.2%, G. lamblia (pathogenic intestinal protozoa) which represent the highest distribution. Besides, we identified, 2.8% of helmintos, among them, 1.8% of H. nana, 1.7% of A. lumbricoides and 0.1% of others (T. trichiura, S. stercoralis and Uncinarias). According to age group, 37.4% were people between 1 and 10 years old (enteroparasites infection). From eight municipalities, Charazani, Calacoto, and Comanche had the highest distribution of enteparasites (10-11 parasites).

Conclusions

. The present study showed that 90% of the population had intestinal parasites, where protozoans were higher than helminths. This epidemiological information could be reliable to improve health care programs for these populations.

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