Diversity of parasitic contamination in raw vegetables commonly consumed in Shiraz, southwest of Iran

To evaluate the parasitic contamination of row vegetables at farms and retails, separately. A total of 224 samples from 8 different kinds of vegetables were randomly collected from the retails and farms (retails: 80; farms: 144) in the same area and then were tested for helminth egg, Giardia spp. cysts and Cryptosporidium spp. oocysts by using sedimentation, floatation and common staining methods. In total, 31.2% (25/80) and 36.8% (53/144) of retails and farms vegetables were contaminated with a variety of parasites, respectively. Parasites detected in retail and farm vegetables were Giardia cysts (3.7% and 4.8%), Taenia spp. eggs (2.5% and 4.1%), Trichostrongylus eggs (2.5% and 2.0%), Ascaris eggs (2.5% and 2.0%), Hymenolepis egg (1.2% and 0.0%), Cryptosporidium spp. (1.2% and 1.3%) and Trichuris eggs (0.0% and 1.3%). Based on our results, fresh vegetables can be a source of food-borne parasitic disease in humans. Public educationand awareness, washing vegetables properly and improving of sanitary and irrigation conditions of these kinds of food should be necessary.