DETERMINACIÓN DE PARÁSITOS INTESTINALES EN FRESAS (FRAGARIA VESCA) EXPENDIDAS EN SUPERMERCADOS DE PORTOVIEJO

Abstract

The consumption of fruits is vital for human health since they have innumerable nutritional properties, and these can be contaminated with some microorganism and produce intestinal parasites that affect the most vulnerable population in rural areas and in poor neighborhoods of cities, for Therefore, intestinal parasites linked to other problems of poverty, cause delay in the mental and physical development of children and in the long term influences their school performance and economic productivity, which has an impact on the lack of socioeconomic progress and culture of developing countries. The objective of this study was to determine the presence of parasites in strawberries that are sold in supermarkets in the city of Portoviejo. An observational, prospective and cross-sectional study with non-probabilistic, intentional sampling was designed; where a total of 50 packages of strawberries were selected from five Portoviejo supermarket chains during the period of January-June 2021; which were processed by spontaneous sedimentation technique. Of the total of processed samples, 18% of strawberries were found to be contaminated with at least 1 microorganism. The species found were Levaduras (91.67%), Blastocystis sp. (8.33%), Eimeria sp. (8.33%) and Endolimax nana (5.56%). It is important to highlight the appropriate prevention measures to avoid the spread of parasitic diseases due to the consumption of these foods