PREVALENCE OF INTESTINAL PARASITE IN COMMON VEGETABLE SOLD IN AJAKA AND EGA MARKET

Contamination of vegetables remains important for transmitting intestinal parasites in developing countries. This study aimed to investigate the types and levels of parasitic contamination of ten commonly consumed vegetables in Kogi state. Vegetables are important sources of dietary nutrients as well as fiber and photochemicals. Many vegetables are eaten raw or partially cooked. However, as such they are at their best when fresh. In the subtropics, different vegetables are readily available but they are prone to faecal contamination due to application of untreated human waste on farmlands or the use of unsafe water body for irrigation. The vegetables on reaching the market undergo some level of washing before sale but this practice alone is not enough to make them safe for human consumption. The samples were subjected to sedimentation technique: 98grams of each sample was washed in 200mL of normal saline and washed water was allowed to sediment over night followed by centrifugation at 3000 rpm for 5 minutes. Wet mounts of the sediment were examined for parasites on the light microscope using 10x and 40x objectives. Parasitic ova and larvae were identified with help of coloured parasitological atlases.