Simuliofauna do rio Marumbi, Morretes - PR, Brasil: microalgas como alimento de larvas de Simulium incrustatum Lutz, 1910 (Diptera, Simuliidae)

Estuda-se a ficoflórula do conteúdo intestinal de larvas do Simulium incrustatum, num período de 18 meses com 18 amostras, em 1983/84. A identificação até gênero, foi feita com material a fresco e material montato em lamínula. No conteúdo entérico das larvas, constataram-se 50 gêneros nas Divisões Chrysophyta (diatomáceas), Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta e Euglenophyta.

Infecção por Enterobius vermicularis em populações agro-pastoris pré-colombianas de San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Enterobius vermicularis eggs were found in human coprolites collected from the archaeological site of San Pedro de Atacama, North of Chile, in occupational layers dated from 1,000 BC. Agricultures and herding were begining at this period of time in this region of South America. The paleoparasitological data amplifies the knowledge about the distribution of human oxyuriasis in Pre-Columbian America.

Megathylacus travassosi sp. n. e Nomimoscolex sudobim Woodland, 1935 (Cestoda - Proteocephalidea) parasitos de Pseudoplatystoma corruscans (Agassiz, 1829) (Siluriformes - Pimelodidae ) do reservatório de Itaipu e Rio Paraná, PR, Brasil)

It is described Megathylacus travassosi sp. n., parasite of Pseudoplatystoma corrusccans (Agassiz,1829), a pimelodid fish caught in Itaipu reservoir and Paraná river, Brazil. Nomimoscolex sudobim Woodland, 1935 is redescribed and for the first time referred parasitising P. corruscans. The list of proteocephalid cestodes of genus Pseudoplatystoma Bleeker, 1862, with its geographic distribution is given.

Seroprevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi Infection in Students at the Seven-Fourteen Age Range, Londrina, PR, Brazil, in 1995

Seropositivity for Chagas disease was evaluated in 834 children aged between 7 and 14 from the Municipal Teaching System in the district of Londrina, State of Paraná. A seroprevalence rate of 0.1% was found through the use of an indirect immunofluorescent test and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This low rate of seroprevalence provides evidence that the vectorial transmission of Chagas disease has been eliminated in Londrina. The main reason for the elimination of vectorial transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi infection, as evaluated by serological tests, may be a remarkable change in the economic structure of the northern region of Paraná in the 1960's. At that time coffee production was almost completely replaced by soy beans, wheat and grazing in the rural areas. This change deeply affected the rural ecology and caused an exodus of the population from rural to urban areas as well as a decrease in the total number of the population of that region. The measures introduced for controlling the disease through the Program of Chagas Disease Control established by the Fundação Nacional de Saúde of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, certainly, had a positive impact on the reduction of American trypanosomiasis prevalence in the area under study. However, it does not seem that this was the most relevant factor responsible for the elimination of vectorial transmission of Chagas disease in Londrina.