Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia
BACKGROUND: As a result of urbanization, eating and drinking from food service establishments is becoming a common practice in developing countries like Ethiopia, which increases the chances of food borne diseases. The health status and hygiene practices of food handlers are the major determinants o...
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2014
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201565/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25329050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110621 |
_version_ | 1782340196480581632 |
---|---|
author | Tefera, Tamirat Mebrie, Getye |
author_facet | Tefera, Tamirat Mebrie, Getye |
author_sort | Tefera, Tamirat |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: As a result of urbanization, eating and drinking from food service establishments is becoming a common practice in developing countries like Ethiopia, which increases the chances of food borne diseases. The health status and hygiene practices of food handlers are the major determinants of food contamination. In developing countries where there are poor regulatory systems for food hygiene, food handlers are often appointed without screening for possible infections associated with poor hygiene like intestinal parasites. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and predictors of intestinal parasites and assessing the hygiene practices among food handlers in Yebu Town, southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 118 food handlers in Yebu Town in January 2011. Fresh stool specimens were collected and processed using both direct wet mount and Formol ether concentration techniques. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites among the study subjects was 44.1% (52/118). Ascaris lumbricoides and hookworm spp were the predominant parasites identified from the stool of study participants. Age above 35 years (AOR: 4.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 21.8), no regular practice of washing hands before a meal (AOR: 7.8, 95% CI: 2.8, 24.8), and untrimmed finger nail (AOR: 14.7, 95% CI: 2.8, 75.4) were independent predictors of intestinal parasitic infection among the food handlers. CONCLUSION: The present study showed high prevalence of intestinal parasites among the study subjects. The study also revealed poor personal hygiene like poor practice of hand washing and poor finger nail hygiene. Therefore, much has to be done to improve the personal hygiene of the food handlers. Pre-placement and periodic screening of food handlers for parasites and prompt treatment, and health education on regular trimming or cleaning of fingernails would be the way forward for prevention of food borne diseases. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4201565 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2014 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-42015652014-10-21 Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia Tefera, Tamirat Mebrie, Getye PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: As a result of urbanization, eating and drinking from food service establishments is becoming a common practice in developing countries like Ethiopia, which increases the chances of food borne diseases. The health status and hygiene practices of food handlers are the major determinants of food contamination. In developing countries where there are poor regulatory systems for food hygiene, food handlers are often appointed without screening for possible infections associated with poor hygiene like intestinal parasites. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed at determining the prevalence and predictors of intestinal parasites and assessing the hygiene practices among food handlers in Yebu Town, southwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among a total of 118 food handlers in Yebu Town in January 2011. Fresh stool specimens were collected and processed using both direct wet mount and Formol ether concentration techniques. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasites among the study subjects was 44.1% (52/118). Ascaris lumbricoides and hookworm spp were the predominant parasites identified from the stool of study participants. Age above 35 years (AOR: 4.8, 95% CI: 1.1, 21.8), no regular practice of washing hands before a meal (AOR: 7.8, 95% CI: 2.8, 24.8), and untrimmed finger nail (AOR: 14.7, 95% CI: 2.8, 75.4) were independent predictors of intestinal parasitic infection among the food handlers. CONCLUSION: The present study showed high prevalence of intestinal parasites among the study subjects. The study also revealed poor personal hygiene like poor practice of hand washing and poor finger nail hygiene. Therefore, much has to be done to improve the personal hygiene of the food handlers. Pre-placement and periodic screening of food handlers for parasites and prompt treatment, and health education on regular trimming or cleaning of fingernails would be the way forward for prevention of food borne diseases. Public Library of Science 2014-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4201565/ /pubmed/25329050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110621 Text en © 2014 Tefera, Mebrie http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Tefera, Tamirat Mebrie, Getye Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title | Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title_full | Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title_fullStr | Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title_full_unstemmed | Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title_short | Prevalence and Predictors of Intestinal Parasites among Food Handlers in Yebu Town, Southwest Ethiopia |
title_sort | prevalence and predictors of intestinal parasites among food handlers in yebu town, southwest ethiopia |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4201565/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25329050 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110621 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT teferatamirat prevalenceandpredictorsofintestinalparasitesamongfoodhandlersinyebutownsouthwestethiopia AT mebriegetye prevalenceandpredictorsofintestinalparasitesamongfoodhandlersinyebutownsouthwestethiopia |