The area around the landfill of Feira de Santana municipality, in Bahia, in 2007, was assessed by the diagnosis of health sanitary, environmental, and social conditions, and the residents' susceptibility with the presence of intestinal pathogens isolated from flies. This is an epidemiological study of qualitative and quantitative approach of ecological and cross-sectional type, of space comparison, and time tendency. From the 10,987 flies collected, Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli, protozoa and helminths were isolated. The sanitary and environmental conditions found in the area are determinative for flies to act as urban vectors of pathogens through cross-contamination, but also the lack of some basic sanitation services and wrong attitudes of the population keep microenvironments that favor the biological cycle of these insects, regardless the landfill.
environmental sanitation; public health; synanthropic insects; enterobacteria
