Abstract
Background: Healthy diets including fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of chronic diseases. This study was
aimed at detecting parasitic contamination caused by consuming raw vegetables sold in Hamadan, west of Iran.
Methods: A total of 380 vegetable samples consisting of parsley, coriander, basil, savory, mint, cress, tarragon,
leek, radish and spring onion were evaluated microscopically after conducting sedimentation and flotation
from April 2017 to March 2018.
Results: Parasites were detected in 95 out of 380 of vegetable samples (25%). The organisms identified
included Entamoeba coli (8.15%), Ascaris lumbricoides (7.1%), Chilomastix mesnili (5%), and Giardia lamblia
(1.5%), Blastocystis hominis (0.78%), Toxocara canis (0.26%) and Hymenolepis nana (0.26%). High level of
contamination was obtained for parsley (5.52%) while radish was the least contaminated (0.78%). Vegetable
contamination was higher in spring and summer (20.6%) (P<0.0001). Samples collected from vegetable fields
irrigated by well water supply showed low parasitic contamination (28.5%) compared to those from farms
irrigated by surface or sewage water (91%) (P<0.0001).
Conclusions: The results emphasize the potential role of raw vegetables consumption in transmission of
pathogenic organisms. Besides, it was highlighted that irrigation of vegetables by surface water could be the
source of vegetable contamination with human intestinal parasites.