Sanitary Quality of Irrigated Vegetables in the Swampy Lowlands of Dschang City, Cameroon

In Dschang City, as in Cameroon's secondary cities, waterborne diseases are increasing. Stream waters are used for watering crops. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the health risk of irrigating vegetables (lettuce, carrots and eggplants) in the Dschang lowlands. Escherichia coli, Entamoeba spp. cysts, Ascaris lumbricoides eggs, major elements and trace elements were looked for in the vegetables collected from 18 plots. The results show that market gardening is practised mainly in the lowlands that receive all the untreated waste from the city. Stream waters used for spraying crops contains approximately 4.2 Log (CFU of E. coli) in 100 ml, regardless of the season. Eggs and parasite cysts were detected. The vegetables analysed have a low and acceptable chemical content. Regardless of the season, E. coli found on crops was far above the standards (103 UFCg−1 DM), 5–58 times above. Eggs and parasite cysts were also detected. These parasites and bacteria represent a real risk to consumers and would be partly responsible for the upsurge of waterborne diseases in Dschang City.