PESQUISA DE PARASITOS INTESTINAIS EM HORTALIÇAS: UMA REVISÃO INTEGRATIVA

Abstract

Introduction: Intestinal parasites represent a public health problem and are directly related to the lack of basic sanitation, poor hygiene habits and lack of information about water and food contamination. The main locations with the greatest focus of contamination are represented mainly as rural areas and outskirts of cities in underdeveloped countries. Infections caused by parasites are more frequent in childhood and represent one of the most common diseases in the world, affecting up to 25% of the world's population, around 1 in every 4 people are infected. Objective: The objective of this work was to carry out an integrative review of the literature from the last 5 years on the occurrence of enteroparasites in vegetables. Methodology: An integrative review was carried out with research in the databases: PubMed (National Center Biotechnology Information) and SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), Google Scholar (Google Scholar). The developers employed were: vegetables contaminated with enteroparasites, intestinal parasites, contaminated safety water, organic fertilizer, and their correlates in the literature, combined using the Boolean operator “AND” between the terms. Articles that were in line with the objective of this study, published between 2019 and 2023, were included. Results: Of the 23 articles analyzed, they revealed high contamination by enteroparasites in lettuce and others vegetables, highlighting the pressing need for a comprehensive and collaborative approach to ensure safety of food and protect public health, through a joint effort between producers, regulators, health professionals and consumers we can mitigate the associated risks and promote healthy and safe eating for everyone. Conclusion: The results obtained make clear the importance of basic personal hygiene education as well as greater action and inspection of health surveillance among producers and traders.