Abstract
Watering of vegetables in developing countries including Ethiopia is done using untreated wastewater and raw manure of domestic animal origin is used as fertilizer. Thus, vegetables are considered to be the principal sources of human infection with bacterial, protozoan and helminth parasites. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the rate of parasitological contamination of pre-harvest vegetables in Mekelle city and its suburban village, ‘Mariam Dahan’. Pre-harvest vegetables were collected from the field during the dry season, washed using physiological saline solution, allowed to sediment overnight, centrifuged and examined microscopically for infective stages of intestinal parasites. Out of the vegetable samples examined, 32.41% in Mekelle city and 30.49% in ‘Mariam Dahan’, contained at least one parasitic contaminant. Strongyloides stercoralis was most encountered parasitic contaminant in the study areas, followed by, Taenia and Entamoeba spp . Highest rate of parasitic contamination was detected on Swiss chard, that was 45.5 and 41.67% in Mekelle city and ‘Mariam Dahan’, respectively. Occurrence of infective stages of intestinal parasites on wastewater-irrigated vegetables may pose public health hazards to farming communities in the study areas. Therefore, evaluation and surveillance of parasitological quality of vegetables is crucial in an attempt to control vegetable-transmitted parasitic infections. Keywords : Untreated wastewater, Raw manure, Pre-harvest Vegetables, Parasitological contamination, Tigray, Ethiopia
Highlights
Increasing water scarcity in dry climate regions with agriculture based economy forces people to use untreated wastewater for irrigation of crops
Research endeavors to detect parasites from environmental sources such as vegetables are scarce in Ethiopia (ROSA, 2009).the objective of this study was to determine the rate of parasitological contamination of vegetables associated with the use of municipal wastewater for irrigation and raw manure as fertilizer on pre-harvest vegetables in Mekelle city and a suburban village, ‘Mariam Dahan’, located at its Northern edge
Out of 108 samples vegetables collected from 24 small farms along the wastewater drainage canal in Mekelle city, 35(32.41%) were found to be positive for at least one parasitic contaminant
Summary
Increasing water scarcity in dry climate regions with agriculture based economy forces people to use untreated wastewater for irrigation of crops. Practice of using untreated municipal wastewater for irrigation, raw manure as fertilizer and habit of eating vegetables raw or undercooked are reported to result in risk of infection with intestinal parasites in developing countries (Blumenthal, 2000). Several studies documented prevalence of intestinal parasites in different parts of Ethiopia including Tigray region through microscopic examination of stool samples collected from suspected human population (Legesse and Erko, 2004; Tadesse, 2005; Dejenie and Petros, 2009). Research endeavors to detect parasites from environmental sources such as vegetables are scarce in Ethiopia (ROSA, 2009).the objective of this study was to determine the rate of parasitological contamination of vegetables associated with the use of municipal wastewater for irrigation and raw manure as fertilizer on pre-harvest vegetables in Mekelle city and a suburban village, ‘Mariam Dahan’, located at its Northern edge
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
