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More Articles Emerge Supporting Role of Food In Transmission of Parasites
Food borne diseases, Diarrhea disease & Parasitic diseases
A combination of researchers from around Europe recently collaborated to publish an article in the May issue of this years, International Journal of Food Microbiology. The article, entitled, “Food-borne diseases – The challenges of 20 Years Ago Still Persist While New Ones Continue to Emerge”. The article challenges the paradigm that diarrhoeal disease, mainly due to contaminated food and water, as a cause of disease will decline worldwide. Rather the authors present evidence indicating that the microbiological safety of food remains in a dynamic situation; heavily influenced by multiple factors along the food chain from farm to fork. One important factor discussed is the contribution of food-borne parasites to diarrhoeal disease. Below is an extract from the study discussing this issue.
“Contamination of food products (e.g. fruits, vegetables and meat) can be introduced via feces, soil, irrigation water, sewage, human handling or improper processing of infected meat. Intrinsically contaminated food is caused by parasitic infections of food-production animals or wildlife and can transmit parasites because the product itself is infected (e.g. meat or fish). An example is trichinellosis, a disease caused by a nematode that is exclusively foodborne in origin. Meat of infected swine, originating from small scale backyard farming, horses and wild boar are well known causes of trichinellosis in Europe.
Parasites differ from many bacterial food-borne pathogens in that they do not replicate outside the host, and that they are generally not susceptible to the antibiotics that kill bacteria. Furthermore, most parasites have an environmental resting stage (egg, cyst or oocyst), which is resistant to desiccation, disinfectants and other stresses. Moreover, the probability of causing infections with very low doses is high (e.g. Cryptosporidium spp.). These characteristics tend to hinder the control and prevention of food-borne parasitic diseases.”
This review article is part of an increasing amount of scientific evidence pointing toward food as an important contributor to the modern day parasite load in humans. The Parasitology Profile, as discussed last night in our Webinar is a great test for detecting the vast array of protozoa and worms known to infect humans, particularly those suffering from chronic GI problems.
Hyperlink to PubMed abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20153070
