Abstract:
Background: Intestinal parasite infections are major public health problems of majorly among children contributed in part bythe adults in developing countries. Food handlers play a critical role in the spread of disease globally. Food contaminationmay occur at any of the stages including; production, processing, distribution, and preparation. The risk of foodcontamination therefore depends largely on the health status of the food handlers, their personal hygiene, knowledge andpractice of food hygiene.Method: This cross sectional study was nested within the KEMRI routine medical examination and certification of foodhandlers from various eateries and food industries in Nairobi Kenya between 2015 and 2016. Structured questionnaire wasused to collect socio demographic data and associated risk factors. Stool samples were collected and examined for intestinalparasites using single Kato-Katz and single Sodium acetate-acetic acid-formalin (SAF) solution concentration methods.Result: A total of 298 food handlers were enrolled in the study. The majority of study participants were males (58.4%), agedbetween 21 to 30 years (59.4%), had secondary level of education (41.6%), 46% were currently married, had between 1 to 3children (74.6%) and used pipped water for domestic purposes (68.1%). About 43 (14.4%) of food handlers were found to bepositive for different intestinal parasites with the most abundant parasite of Entameoba histolytica 30 (69.8%) followed byIodamoeba butschlii 7(16.3%), Giardia lamblia 4 (9.3%), Endolimax nana 1 (2.3%) and Trichomonas hominis 1 (2.3%).Consumption of borehole water (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.2 to 4.1) and general personal hygienic characteristics such as handwashing before eating (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.9), after using toilet (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.02 to 0.5), cooking (OR 0.1, 95% CI0.02 to 0.6) and wearing of protective gears (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 6.4) were associated with intestinal parasitic infection.Conclusion: The present study revealed a high prevalence of intestinal parasite in asymptomatic (apparently healthy) foodhandlers working in various eateries and food industries in Nairobi Kenya and that water quality and personal hygienecontribute significantly to parasitic infection. Such infected food handlers can contaminate food, drinks and could serve assource of infection to consumers via food chain
