[Intestinal parasitoses in the child in French Guiana. Evaluation of a 4-year systematical survey in the C.H. of Cayenne].

A systematic study on intestinal parasites in children of the Cayenne Hospital Center from 1974 to 1977 showed the following: 1(0) With a 26.1 0/0 total infestation index, nematodes are four times more frequently more responsible than protozoa; cestodes are extremely rare (T. saginata 0.8 0/0); trematodes are found only in allochthonous people from the Antilles (S. mansoni). 2(0) Age distribution shows an early nematode infestation. The nematodes infecting children by the oral way have a maximal incidence at the age of 3 to 6 years. Those infecting by the skin way are maximal at 6 to 12 years and keep afterwards a relatively stable incidence. Most carriers of E. dysenteriae cysts are those children who present vegetative forms of histolytica in 4.1 0/0 of the cases.