Prevalence of protozoa and helminths in vegetables marketed in street stands in the municipality of Crato – ce, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Luis Gutemberg Bezerra da
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Silva, Lúcia Maria Bezerra da, Arrais, Francisco Matheus Andrade, Melanda, Gislaine Cristina Souza, Ferreira, Renato Juciano
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Saúde (Santa Maria)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufsm.br/revistasaude/article/view/29982
• topic: Vegetable; Health; Contamination; Intestinal parasitoses; Hortaliças; Saúde; Contaminação; Parasitoses Intestinais

Vegetables are food items of great importance in the human population’s diet, being often consumed in natura. This consumption has been recommended as part of a healthy diet for its considerable percentage of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibers. Once they are eaten raw, these vegetables may be contaminated by protozoan cysts and oocysts, and/or helminths eggs and larvae that are harmful to human health. Considering the actuality and relevance of this problem, the present work aimed to determine the prevalence of protozoa and helminths in vegetables sold in market street stand of the Municipality of Crato – CE. 16 samples were collected randomly at seven market stands, including coriander (seven), chives (seven) and crisp lettuce (two), which were sent to the Microscopy Laboratory of the Regional University of Cariri for analysis using the spontaneous sedimentation technique adapted for plants. After the analysis of the collected vegetables, it was verified that 18.8% of the samples were contaminated by protozoan cysts and/or helminths eggs and larvae. Cysts of Entamoeba coli and Entamoeba histolytica, eggs of hookworm and Ascaris lumbricoides, as well as larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis and hookworm were identified. The contamination of theses vegetables with parasitic structures confirms results of other similar studies, which indicate that they are important route of dissemination of intestinal parasitoses, and thus pose a risk to consumer health, requiring decontamination procedures prior to consumption to minimize or even eliminate the parasitic structures presented in these vegetables.