Worms infect 6 of 10 food handlers, studies say
First posted 07:20am (Mla time) April 07, 2006
By Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer
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SIX OUT OF 10 food attendants in school canteens, hospitals, mall food
outlets and other eateries in Metro Manila and Metro Cebu are infected
with intestinal worms, studies of the University of the Philippines’
National Institutes for Health (NIH) have found.
“This is perhaps the most widespread health problem in the contem****ary
world because everybody eats,” Dr. Vicente Belizario, the research
agency’s deputy director, said in a press conference Thursday.
Helminths (hookworms, roundworms and whipworms) and small, single-celled
parasites called protozoans could be easily spread from food handlers to
consumers without proper sanitation and public consciousness of the
danger, he said.
They are the common causes of diarrhea and malnutrition, Belizario said.
In worse cases, they infect not only the intestines but also the liver,
gall bladder, lungs and the brain, he said.
Belizario disclosed findings of three separate studies of personnel
handling food. The first, conducted
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in 2002, involved food attendants in 123 school canteens, while the
other studies were undertaken last year, covered canteen employees in
nearly 100 hospitals, and 138 food attendants in malls.
The results showed no big difference between eating at a lowly, roadside
eatery or a classy restaurant.
One case study shown to re****ters Thursday showed the video footage of a
woman food attendant at a Quezon City “carinderia” (small roadside
eatery) using the same rag to dry newly washed plates and tables.
She was also holding the rag while serving food, the do***entary showed.
An elegant bistro in Makati City boasts of well-trained waiters, but the
danger of worm infection still lurks, according to another case re****t.
The waiter was shown using the same dirty rag to wipe the table and,
later, the food tray. He rinsed it only afterward.
A discomforting note in both cases was the manner through which both
food attendants secured health permits from their respective local
governments.
Belizario said most of the people applying for permits were often tested
for worm infection only through the non-intensive direct fecal smear
(DFS) procedure.
The DFS procedure, for instance, found only 6.5 percent of food handlers
in canteens in Metro Manila as infected with intestinal parasites. A
subsequent test using the more sensitive concentration technique
recorded 13.8 percent, according to the expert.
Another study presented by Belizario involved dietary service workers in
a tertiary hospital in Metro Manila. It discovered an infection rate of
42.4 percent.
A tertiary hospital is defined as fully departmentalized and equipped
with service capabilities to sup****t medical specialists and other
licensed physicians rendering services in medicine, pediatrics,
obstetrics and gynecology and surgery, as well as subspecialties and
ancillary services.
Another case study showed a 38.3-percent infection rate among mall
employees involved in food preparation in Metro Cebu.
Faced with the alarming re****ts and the prospect of even more infection,
the Department of Health has come up with a new order requiring
stringent guidelines for the “parasitologic” screening of food handlers.
The administrative order, issued on Jan. 10, adopts the Formalin
Ether/Ethyl Acetate Concentration Technique (FECT) as the “procedure of
choice for stool examination by the local health units.”
The FECT is a more intensive procedure compared with the more popular
and widely used DFS method.
The order also requires food handlers to be examined at least once a year.
“It’s not acceptable to have worms in this day and age,” Belizario said.
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