Administration of antiparasitics periodically in Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To conjecture, through a narrative literature review, about needing to maintain the routine and periodic practice of mass administration of antiparasitic drugs in Brazil nowadays, following WHO guidelines. Bibliographical review: Recent and precise studies on the epidemiological situation regarding geohelminthiasis in Brazil are scarce, but it is clear that, although a considerable geographic heterogeneity, there are regions of absolute severity that require urgent control. Following WHO recommendations for controlling geohelminthiases, the prevalence of these diseases in Brazil was considered moderate, and control should be carried out with mass administration of antiparasitics annually. The literature shows examples of immediate success with this intervention, such as in Zimbabwe, but other examples are not as satisfactory as in the Philippines, which even after almost a decade of deworming still maintains moderate to severe levels of infection intensity. Final considerations: Therefore, there is a fragility in the evidence base that endorses the need to continue or not with interventions already instituted in Brazil, since careful evaluations of these interventions are necessary to ensure that the data are relevant and adapted significantly to the different epidemiological contexts found and reformulated with the dynamics of these interventions.