Enteroparasitos em manipuladores de merenda escolar em Caicó - RN.

Abstract

Handlers of food infected by parasites are potential disseminators of infectious forms, through their hands, if they are not sanitized and if they are contaminated by feces. The occurrence of enteroparasitosis in handlers of school lunches is an important indicator, which makes it possible to assess the risk of contamination of food offered to children in the school environment. The present work aims to investigate the presence of enteroparasites/nonpatogenic in cooks from Caicó-RN. It was a descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study, in which a coproparasitological survey was carried out in 60 stool samples from lunch ladies from 20 day care centers and public schools, from June to October 2022; the research was duly authorized by the ethics committee, with opinion number: 5,586,848. The school lunch handlers were instructed on the standard procedure for a single collection of feces and the samples were processed by a qualitative method of simple-sedimentation centrifuge. The samples were analyzed under an optical microscope to investigate the possible presence of enteroparasites and nonpatogenic, in addition to the presence of parasitic associations. Among the 60 school lunch handlers, only 32 carried out the sample collection, of which 62.5% were positive for the presence of enteroparasites/nonpatogenic. Endolimax nana was the most prevalent species, being present in 95% of those infected. Species such as Giardia lamblia (15%), Entamoeba histolytica/E.dispar (5%), Entamoeba coli (5%) and Iodamoeba butschlii (5%) were also found. Related to the profile of those affected, 95% were female, most of those affected are aged between 20 and 39 years (75%), most of whom live in the urban area of Caicó-RN. Given the high prevalence of protozoan cysts; it is concluded that it is necessary to implement sanitary and educational measures, as well as to carry out the parasitological examination of feces periodically.