title: Factors associated to Montenegro skin test positivity in Teresina, Brazil.
abstract: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an emerging infectious disease of urban areas in Brazil. To better understand this process, we have studied the association between reaction to the Montenegro skin test (MST), and demographic, socioeconomic and environmental factors in an urban area with high force of transmission. Associations between variables were expressed by prevalence ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals estimated by using Poisson regression models with robust variance. Higher prevalence of positivity to MST was detected among male and older participants, and among subjects who owned dogs for 3 or more years. Individuals with higher literacy and living in households with three or more persons showed lower prevalence of MST reaction. These results suggest that the identification of high-risk groups might be feasible and useful for targeting interventions.
authors.affiliation: Núcleo de Estudos de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro e Departamento de Epidemiologia, Instituto de Medicina Social, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcus Vinicius
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Gouvêa
authors.forename: Guilherme L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Werneck
authors.forename: Carlos Henrique N
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Fernando Aécio
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: de Amorim Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012882:Skin Tests / Q000379:methods*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors