Objectives: To study the prevalence of Enterobius vermicularis infection in children aged 3 to 14 years in a rural zone of the town of Quipile, Colombia.
Methods: 159 children from 14 villages, with a homogeneous distribution according to their degree of scholarity, were studied. The detection of Enterobius vermicularis eggs was done by the Graham method. The design was a cross-sectional descriptive study, for which a convenience non-probabilistic sampling was carried out. Fisher's exact test and chi 2 were performed for data analysis. Multivariate analysis by multiple correspondence was also carried out.
Results: 2.5% of the children were found to be infected with E. vermicularis and 5% with Ascaris lumbricoides. This frequency is low when compared to reports from other authors; one of the possible causes is the sampling method used.
Conclusions: Deficient sanitation conditions of the population studied as well as the low frequency of anal hygiene practices may represent behavioural risk factors which favour the transmission of this helminth.