Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection in food handlers of Iran: A
Systematic Review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Food handlers regardless whether preparing or serving food, key roles in
transmission of food-borne infections. This study aimed to evaluate the
prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in food handlers. In
present study, a comprehensive literature search was carried out in
electronic databases including: PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Science
Direct, Magiran, Scientific Information Database (SID), Iran Medex and
Iran Doc to identify all the published studies from 2000 to 31st April,
2019. A total of 25 articles from different regions of Iran identified
and fulfilled our eligibility criteria. Totally 140447 cases were
examined and 1163 cases were infected with intestinal parasites. Of all
cases, 19516 were male and 5901 were female with 1163 and 652 infected
case respectively. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic
infections was evaluated 14% [95%CI: 11-17%]. Results indicated
that protozoan such as Giardia lamblia, with prevalence of 41.0%
[95%CI: 25.0%-59.0%], Blastosystice hominis with 28% [95%CI:
15.0%-44.0%] and Entamoaba coli with 22.0% [95%CI:
16.0%-29.0%] had the highest prevalence while, Dientamoeba fragilis
5.0% [95%CI: 4.0%-7.0%], Iodamoeba. bütschlii 5.0% [95%CI:
2.0%-8.0%], Chilomastix mesnili 5.0% [95%CI: 2.0%-9.0%] and
Endolimax. nana with 3.0% [95%CI: 1.0%-7.0%], were less
prevalent. Infection with Ascaris lumbricoides 7.0% [95%CI:
0.0%-29.0%] was more prevalent helminthes followed with Enterobius
vermicularis 3.0% [95%CI: 1.0%-5.0%], Hymenolepis nana 2.0%
[95%CI: 1.0%-3.0%], Taenia spp 2.0% [95%CI: 0.0%-7.0%]
and Trichuris. trichiura 1.0% [95%CI: 0.0%-1.0%]. Our results
revealed the high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection in food
handlers in Iran. Monitoring programs to prevent and controlling of
transmission to individuals are needed