Parasitic infections on vegetables in the highland and lowland areas of kween district

Abstract

Vegetables and fruits are commonly consumed because of their nutritive value. However, studies have been carried out and it has showed that vegetables are one of the causes of intestinal parasites. These intestinal parasites are as a result of consumption of raw vegetables that have been affected. This study is aimed at assessing the parasitic contamination of vegetables from farm in both the highland and lowland areas of Kween district. Systematic Random sampling of vegetables in farm from two parishes was done, one from the lowland and one from the highland, Vegetables were collected from four villages in the highland and four villages from the lowlands of kween district. Simple random sampling method was used where by subsets was randomly selected from the population. In the method each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, the study was carried out between November and February. The samples were taken to the laboratory at Busitema University for detection of parasites. A total of 160 samples that were collected and tested showed that 116 of the totals were affected by parasites and 44 were not affected. This gives the overall percentage of 72.5% that are affected which is very high. The lowland areas of kween district showed a high percentage in the parasitic infections than the highlands. Parasites that have a negative impact on human health. These findings will have important implications on public health that for example may aid regulatory agencies for prevention and control strategies for food safe.