Parasitological Examination of Slender Amaranth Vegetable (Amaranthus viridis) and Bush-Okra (Corchorus olitorius) from Farms and Markets in Communities around Edu Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper  examined a total of two hundred and fifty (250) samples of slender amaranth vegetable (Amaranthus viridis) and bush-okra (Corchorus olitorius) from farms and markets in the communities around Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State of Nigeria between January and July 2023 for evaluation of parasites that infect humans using the sedimentation method. Parasites isolated from vegetable samples from the farm showed that Ascaris lumbricoides (17.6%) was the most encountered followed by Entamoeba histolytica (11.2%) and the least was Enterobius vermicularis (3.2%). In the market samples, Ascaris (11.2%) was the most prevalent parasites encountered while Trichuris trichiura, Strongyloides stercoralis and E. vermicularis (1.6%) were the least prevalent. One hundred and fourteen (45.6%) samples were contaminated with various parasites. Of the total contaminated vegetable, 74/125 (59.2%) were found in the farm vegetables while 40/125 (32.0%) were encountered in the market vegetables. Corchorus olitorius were found to be more contaminated in both the farms 39/110 (35.5%) and market 23/110 (20.9%). From the study, it was seen that the rate of contamination was highest in the month of July, while the month of January had the least rate of contamination for both farm and market vegetable samples. The difference in the contamination rate in both farm and market samples were seen to be significant (P < 0.05). This study recommends proper washing of vegetables prior to consumption and proper sewage treatment before usage as fertilizer.