Resumo

DEVERA, Rodolfo; BLANCO, Ytalia; GONZALEZ, Hecmil  e  GARCIA, Lisdet. Intestinal parasites in lettuce commercially sold in popular markets and supermarkets from Ciudad Bolivar, Bolivar State, Venezuela. Rev. Soc. Ven. Microbiol. [online]. 2006, vol.26, n.2, pp.100-107. ISSN 1315-2556.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the parasitological contamination of lettuce (Lactuca sativa) commercially sold in Ciudad Bolivar, Bolivar state, Venezuela. We studied 102 samples of this vegetable (roman, american and native types) from four locals: two supermarkets (I and II locals), one greengrocer shop (local III), and one popular market (local IV). Each lettuce obtained was submitted to two consecutives washing with sterile distillated water, filtrated and submitted to spontaneous sedimentation for 24 hours and microscopic examination of sediment. Also, it was processed by formol-ether method and Kinyoun staining. Of a total 102 samples, 53.9% were positive for parasitic structures with morphological aspects similar to those of human parasites. The parasites more frequently detected were Blastocystis hominis (21.6%), intestinal coccidians (16.7%) and Strongyloides stercoralis (15.7%). There was no differences between lettuce types and local of commercially sold and detection of parasitic forms. We concluded that high contamination percentage determine a risk of human infection between consumers of lettuce in Ciudad Bolívar. We suggest greater enforcement in the sanitary surveillance of this vegetable offered to the population.

Palavras-chave : Intestinal parasites; Lettuce, Blastocystis; cocccidians.