Geohelminths Contamination of Fruits and Vegetables Sold in Lafia Markets
E. M. Abe, L. J. Ajah, S. O. Ayuba, H. Mogaji, U. F. Ekpo
Annual Research & Review in Biology · pp. 1–8 · Published 6 Sep 2016
10.9734/ARRB/2016/25566Abstract
Fruits and vegetables are important in human diets as they help the body system function optimally but could also pose risk to human health when taken unhygienically. This study assessed geohelminths contamination on some common fruits and vegetables sold in Lafia markets and also obtained information on people’s knowledge about fruits and vegetables contamination with geohelminth parasites using structured questionnaire. A total of 500 samples of fruits and vegetables (comprising 250 fruits and 250 vegetables) including mango, cashew, carrot, garden egg, tomato, fluted pumpkin, cabbage, lettuce, spinach and bitter leaf were sampled from five different markets in Lafia, Nasarawa state, Nigeria from May to July 2015. The studied samples were categorised into two; this include 300 washed and 200 unwashed samples. These samples were checked for geohelminths contamination using standard floatation and sedimentation techniques. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) and fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis) had the highest proportion of geohelminths contamination (30.43%), lettuce (17.39%) and bitter leaf had no contamination among the vegetables sampled; however, contamination occurred highest in carrot (Daurus carota) (34.48%) within the fruit category and least contamination was found in tomato and cashew (20.69%). Geohelminth parasites eggs and larvae identified include Ascaris lumbricoides, Hookworm, Strongyloides stercoralis and Trichuiris trichiura with A. lumbricoides occurring highest. Information obtained indicated that 65% of the respondents have never heard of geohelminth parasites. Effective health and hygiene education is necessary in order to overcome the continued spread of geohelminths infections through eating unhygienic fruits and vegetables.
Cited by 18
T. Balogun · SRA - Biological Sciences · 2025
Adelh Mohammed Qaid Muqbel, A. J. Binsaad · Electronic Journal of University of Aden for Basic and Applied Sciences · 2023
Favour Barnabas, A. Dahal, J. Damen · Nigerian Journal of Medicine · 2022
Faith Feranmi Folahan · Open Access Journal of Biomedical Science · 2022
Traoré Sanata, Wele Mamadou, Samake Fasse · African Journal of Agricultural Research · 2021
L. Gboeloh, I. I. Sounyo · International Journal of TROPICAL DISEASE & Health · 2021
Behnam Bahramian, A. Afshari, Behzad Kiani · Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering · 2021
Khryst Celine C. Vizon, Zosimo G. Battad, Diane Shiela C. Castillo · Journal of Parasitic Diseases · 2019
S. Etewa, Sara A. Abdel-Rahman, G. Fathy · 2017
G. Banta, Mildred M. Capiña · 2020
Related research
- Prevalence of Geohelminths among Primary School Children in Edoh Community, Esit Eket Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria — shares topic coverage
- Antimicrobial Effect of Some Plant Extracts on Plant Pathogens that Cause Food Spoilage — shares topic coverage
- Isolation, Characterization, and Identification of Yeasts Associated with Foods from Assiut City, Egypt — shares topic coverage
- Amylolytic Potential of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Wet Milled Cereals, Cassava Flour and Fruits — shares topic coverage
- Antibacterial Activity of Croton bonplandianum (Bail.) Against Some Bacterial Isolates from Infected Wounds — shares topic coverage
Article metrics
Real usage data collected on this platform.
0
Page views
0
PDF downloads
0
Outbound clicks
18
Citations
Views by country
Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".
No views recorded yet.
Traffic sources
Referring site, by host.
No traffic recorded yet.
Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.