Parasitic Contamination of Fresh Vegetables Sold at Upper and Lower Dir Districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Parasitic Contamination of Fresh Vegetables Sold at Upper and Lower Dir Districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Wali Khan*, Ghazal Mumtaz, Saima Bibi and Salma Afzal
ABSTRACT
Current study was aimed to determine the prevalence of parasitic infection in vegetables collected from the vegetable markets in Lower and Upper Dir districts. A total of 520 vegetable samples were collected during April to October 2016. These vegetable samples were screened for parasitic contamination. The results showed that 10.7% of the vegetables were found to be contaminated with one or more than one species of parasites. Intestinal parasites Ascaris lumbricoides 26.7%, Trichuris trichura 19.6%, Taenia saginata 25 % and Entamoeba histolytica cyst 28.5% were detected. The highest prevalence was recorded for Entamoeba histolytica while Trichuris trichura was detected as the least parasitic infection. Coriandrum annum (Coriander) was found highly contaminated 14.2% with parasitic infection while Zingiber officinale (Ginger) with least 1.78%. The vegetable collected from lower Dir were highly infected 41(73.2) than the upper Dir district 15(26.7). Based on the results of the present study it was suggested that vegetables are the possible source of transmission of intestinal parasites.
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