Parasitological contamination of freshly eaten vegetables collected from local markets in Alexandria, Egypt: A preliminary study

The possible parasitological contamination of freshly eaten vegetables collected from different local markets in Alexandria was assessed in the present study. Ten vegetable sorts from 10 local markets were screened for the presence of parasitic protozoa and helminths. It was found that 19.4% (19/98) of vegetable samples were contaminated with cysts of one or more protozoal species, namely Entamoeba histolytica (7.1%), Entamoeba coli (11.2%) and Giardia lamblia (8.2%). On the contrary, no helminthic eggs were recovered. Radish and carrot showed the highest contamination with 50.0% and 40.0% of the examined samples being contaminated, respectively. Samples of dill and lettuce did not show any contaminating parasites. The majority of contaminated samples (21.1%) were from Danna market whereas no contamination was observed for those collected from El-Manshia. The present study concluded the potential of freshly eaten vegetables sold in Alexandria local markets as vehicles for intestinal protozoa. Further broad-scale surveys are recommended to explore and confirm such potentiality as well as the possible helminthic contamination.