Abstract
Background. Foodborne diseases are major public health problems in developing countries like Ethiopia. Food handlers with poor personal hygiene working in hospitals could be infected with different intestinal parasites and pathogenic enteric bacteria. Therefore, they could pose a potential risk of foodborne infection to patients and the community. Methods. An institutional based cross-sectional study conducted from March to June 2017. Besides, sociodemographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire, freshly passed stool specimens for direct wet mount smear examination, and formalin ether concentration techniques performed for the detection of parasites. For bacterial identification culture, biochemical tests and antimicrobial sensitivity (Kirby-Baure disk diffusion method) have been performed. Finally, validated data were analyzed using statistical package for social science version 20 (SPSS). Results. From 368 food handlers who participated in the study, 81% were females. 119 (32.34%) were positive for at least one intestinal parasite. The most prevalent parasite was Entamoeba histolytica/dispar 48 (13%), followed by Giardia lamblia 36 (9.78%), Taenia Species 21 (5.7%), Ascaris lumbricoide 8 (2.2%), Trichuris trichiura 5 (1.4%), and Hook worm 1 (0.3%). Regarding the prevalence of enteric bacteria 17(4.6%), food handlers were positive for Salmonella 14 (3.8%) and Shigella flexneri 3 (0.8%). No E. coli O157 : H7 was isolated. All 100% (n = 14) Salmonella isolates were resistant to ampicillin (10 µg) and erythromycin (15 µg). Similarly, 100% (n = 3) of Shigella flexneri isolates were resistant to ampicillin (10 µg) and tetracycline (30 µg). 14.3% (n = 2) Salmonella and 66.7% (n = 2) Shigella flexneri isolates were MDR. Conclusion. The study showed significant carriage of pathogenic microorganisms among food handlers. Therefore, hospital administrators and other stake holders should put measures in place to break chain of transmission routes from silent carrier to other peoples particularly patients at hospital and the community at large.
Highlights
Food contamination may occur at any point during its journey through production, processing, distribution, and preparation. e risk of food getting contaminated depends largely on the health status of the food handlers, their personal hygiene, knowledge, and practice of food hygiene [1]. e common way of transmission of these pathogens is through contaminated objects with feces while food can be contaminated in different ways. erefore food handlers that are infected with parasites and enteric bacteria with poor personal hygiene working in food-serving establishments could be potential sources of infections. ey can harbor and excrete intestinal parasites and contaminate foods from their feces, to food processing, and to healthy individuals and patients [2,3,4,5]
Some group of people with the weakened immune system, such as patients admitted in hospitals, elders, International Journal of Microbiology pregnant women, and patients on chronic steroid treatment, are more vulnerable to foodborne disease due to the reason that only little number of pathogens is enough to cause disease. e supply of contaminated foods to these vulnerable peoples poses a great danger of infection [6,7,8,9,10,11]. e World Health Organization’s global report on surveillance of antimicrobial resistance report makes a clear case that resistance to common bacteria has reached alarming levels in many parts of the world [4]
E foodborne infection which is mostly caused by contaminated food is still a widely prevalent public health problem in developing countries like Ethiopia. e main causes of foodborne illness are bacteria, which accounts for 66% of foodborne disease, and 4% of foodborne disease is caused by intestinal parasites [2]. e World health organization (WHO) estimated that in developed countries, up to 30% of the population suffers from foodborne diseases each year [4]
Summary
Foodborne diseases are major public health problems in developing countries like Ethiopia. Food handlers with poor personal hygiene working in hospitals could be infected with different intestinal parasites and pathogenic enteric bacteria. Erefore, they could pose a potential risk of foodborne infection to patients and the community. Biochemical tests and antimicrobial sensitivity (Kirby-Baure disk diffusion method) have been performed. From 368 food handlers who participated in the study, 81% were females. Regarding the prevalence of enteric bacteria 17(4.6%), food handlers were positive for Salmonella 14 (3.8%) and Shigella flexneri 3 (0.8%). All 100% (n 14) Salmonella isolates were resistant to ampicillin (10 μg) and erythromycin (15 μg). 100% (n 3) of Shigella flexneri isolates were resistant to ampicillin (10 μg) and tetracycline (30 μg). 14.3% (n 2) Salmonella and 66.7% (n 2) Shigella flexneri isolates were MDR. E study showed significant carriage of pathogenic microorganisms among food handlers. Conclusion. e study showed significant carriage of pathogenic microorganisms among food handlers. erefore, hospital administrators and other stake holders should put measures in place to break chain of transmission routes from silent carrier to other peoples patients at hospital and the community at large
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