Summer is the fruiting season for many trees and shrubs. Fruits ripening in the sun attract each of us with their beautiful color, sweet taste and the opportunity to pamper the body with vitamins. However, along with the benefits, paradoxically, there is a danger of a person becoming infected with parasites when eating poorly washed vegetables and fruits. Vegetables, fruits, and berries are fraught with danger, since they may contain eggs and larvae of helminths and cysts of pathogenic protozoa.
Some people believe that tangerines, oranges, bananas and other peeled fruits can be given to a child unwashed; just remove the dirty peel and the fruit is clean. From the peel, helminth eggs can easily get onto the fruit and with it into the child’s body, and then infection is inevitable. Those vegetables and berries that come into contact with the ground are especially dangerous, because the eggs of many types of parasites are contained in the ground and sand. So, strawberries are the most dangerous of the berries, because their ripening berries often lie directly on the ground. Beware of the greens! This is where the paradise for helminths lies. There are particles of earth and places that are hard to reach for washing. The ground, unwashed vegetables, fruits, and berries may contain eggs and larvae of roundworms, whipworms, pinworms, hookworms, strongylids and other helminths. For example, a swallowed roundworm egg develops into a worm 20-30 cm long. As a result of infection, anemia (low hemoglobin), abdominal pain, pain in the right hypochondrium, alternating constipation and diarrhea appear. Whipworm larvalava feeds on the lymph and blood of the capillary network of the intestinal walls, and as a result, intestinal functions are disrupted, intestinal colic, weakness, exhaustion, a sharp decrease in immunity, and chronic fatigue appear.
According to hygienic standards, food products - vegetables, fruits, berries, table greens, vegetable salads should not contain helminth eggs and intestinal pathogenic protozoan cysts. It is also unacceptable to have pathogens of parasitosis on children's towels, dishes, oilcloths and tablecloths, dining tables, toys, hands of children and staff, cutting equipment in catering departments of children's preschool and school institutions, medical institutions, catering establishments, retail chains, etc.
Fruit and vegetable products (table greens, berries, vegetables, fruits) that during the process of growth or ripening came into contact with soil and water from open reservoirs are subject to laboratory control. Fruit and vegetable products contaminated with pathogens of parasitic diseases are not allowed to be sold to the public. Identification of sources of contamination of environmental objects with pathogens of parasitosis indicates a violation of the sanitary and hygienic regime and is the most important link in the system of comprehensive health and preventive measures. Depending on the nature of the contamination, different measures are taken to eliminate it.
To prevent infection by parasites, it is necessary to thoroughly wash vegetables, fruits, table greens, using soaking, then washing in a colander under running water for 5-10 minutes with periodic shaking. Onions, parsley, lettuce are first cleared of soil, the roots are cut off, then separated into individual leaves, stems, feathers and washed thoroughly. A good effect is obtained by washing them in soapy water and then rinsing them with running water. To wash berries that have a rough surface or lobed structure (strawberries, strawberries, raspberries, etc.), it is best to wash them with a 1% soda solution and then with clean water.
A banal recommendation that should not be forgotten. Wash your hands yourself, teach your child to wash his hands without being reminded after visiting public places, playing in the sandbox, or interacting with pets. Stay healthy!
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