Abstract

L. WERNECK, Guilherme et al. Assessment of the effectiveness of control strategies for visceral leishmaniasis in the city of Teresina, State of Piauí, Brazil: baseline survey results - 2004. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2008, vol.17, n.2, pp.87-96. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742008000200002.

This report presents and discusses the implications of the baseline survey results of a community intervention trial to assess the effectiveness of control measures against visceral leishmaniasis. The study was carried out in ten neighborhoods of the City of Teresina, State of Piauí, Brazil. Each neighborhood was divided into blocks, four of them selected and randomly allocated to different types of interventions to be implemented after the baseline survey. During the first semester of 2004, the participants (n=1,105) answered a baseline survey questionnaire and had their responses to the Montenegro skin test (MST) evaluated. Prevalence of infection was estimated as 36.7% - tended to increase with age -, higher among males. Prevalence varied from 24.0 to 47.0% between neighborhoods. Although randomization worked satisfactorily for socio-demographic variables, significant differences in the prevalence of positivity in the MST between areas under two different kinds of interventions were found. These differences might affect the validity of the intervention trial, since areas may not be comparable regarding the rates of transmission, a major condition for causal inference in infectious diseases.

Keywords : visceral leishmaniasis; epidemiology; morbidity surveys.

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