The Prevalence of Parasitic Contamination of Vegetables Consumed in Malayer City, West of Iran, in 2014

Background: Transmission of infectious agents, such as parasites, is associated with consumption of raw vegetables. Thus, the health of vegetables reflects the health status of a region. Objectives: Due to considerable parasitic contamination in Hamadan province and lack of information about health of vegetables in this region, this study was conducted in Malayer city, west of Iran. Methods: This investigation was a cross-sectional study carried out on 383 samples of different vegetables including leek, parsley, coriander, radish, spring onion, tarragon, basil, mint, cress, and savory. The samples were randomly collected from 38 farms around Malayer city and subjected to parasitic contamination analysis using sedimentation and floatation methods. Results: The results showed that 14.6% of the vegetable samples were contaminated with various pathogenic (5.2%) and nonpathogenic (9.4%) parasites including protozoan cyst (3.7%), worm eggs (3.9%), and free-living larvae (7%). Giardia intestinalis (1.3%) and Entamoeba coli (2.3%) were the only protozoa that were detected in the samples. Frequencies of worm egg contamination were 1.6% for Taenia/Echinococcus spp., 0.5% for Dicrocoelium dendriticum, 0.8% for Toxocara spp., 0.5% for Hymenolepis nana, 0.3% for Trichostrongylus spp., and 0.3% for Fasciola spp. Leek was the most contaminated vegetable (31.7%), although there was no contamination in tarragon (P 0.001). Significant relationships were observed between parasitic contamination and fertilizer (P = 0.018) and water consumption (P 0.001) used in the farm vegetables. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the potential role of rawvegetables consumption in the transmission of parasitic infections in the area. Therefore, it is recommended for some necessary hygienic measures to be applied to increase the public health of the community.