Monitoring Parasitic Contamination of the Beaches Sand and Public Squares of Northeast Brazil: a Comparative Approach

This work aims to evaluate the parasite presence in the sand of two squares and beaches/parks in the metropolitan region of Recife-PE and Joao Pessoa-PB, to compare the frequencies of the main parasitological species in these locations. The samples were collected in 2014 from three different depths of the soil (surface, 10 cm, and 20 cm), obtaining 96 samples from the metropolitan regions of Recife-PE and 48 samples from Joao Pessoa-PB. In Recife were detected a high number of positive samples from beaches (70.8%) and squares (25.7%) compared to Joao Pessoa, which reached 45.8% and 25%, respectively. Twelve parasite species were identified, distributed predominantly in the samples collected in 10 and 20 cm. In Pernambuco, the species Giardia lamblia, Cryptosporidium spp., and Endolimax nana were the most recurrent on the beaches, while Toxocara sp. and Iodamoeba butschilii were more frequent in the parks. In the Paraiba were identified only Cryptosporidium spp. and Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar on the beaches. While Ancylostoma sp., Cryptosporidium spp, and Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar were the most recurrent in the Paraiba squares. This study highlights the contamination of parasites in public environments (squares/beaches) to alert the need for actions aimed at combating parasites in these places.