Vegetables are a major way for the transmission of human parasites, especially those that
are consumed raw and or not properly washed. The leafy vegetables act as a reservoir host for
these parasites or act as a critical intermediate host for some parasites encysted to complete
their life cycle. The study aimed to evaluate the extent of parasitic contamination of various
raw consumed vegetables available commercially in Assiut City. A cross-sectional study was
conducted in 2017 & 2018, where a total of 240 samples were collected (40 samples from
each of Watercress, Radish, Parsley, Coriander, Green onion, and Lettuce). A direct simple
washing technique available to households was used to recover parasites in each plant. Parasitic
contamination rate was calculated.
The overall parasites were 202/240 (84.1%). Parsley was the highly contaminated vegetable
whereas Lettuce was the least contaminated. The most encountered contaminating parasite
was Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts 76.25% (183/240) most frequent in radish (38/40),
while Isospora sp. was the least detected one (2.1%). Parasites were viable only in 50% of
tested samples. The high percent of vegetable contamination detected by this study urge other
alternative methods for farming, irrigation and washing in the local community.