Parasitological evaluation of lettuce served in school meals at a Federal State School in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The Brazilian "National School Lunch Program" (PNAE) must provide healthy food for students in public primary education. Thus, it is necessary to ensure both nutritional and parasitological quality, reducing health risks. Vegetables must be clean, presenting no parasites and larvae, according to Brazilian legislation. Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is one of the favorite vegetables among students, and is eaten raw in salads. This paper aims to evaluate the parasitological quality of lettuce served in school lunches. 72 samples of leaf lettuce, 36 from conventional agriculture (CA) and 36 from family agriculture (FA), were analyzed. Half the samples in each group were sanitized by immersion in a sodium hypochlorite solution, with 2% active stabilized chlorine for 10 minutes (n=18/each) and half were not sanitized (n=18/each). Parasite load evaluation was performed by two methods in each subgroup: spontaneous sedimentation (SS) and sedimentation by centrifugation (SC). The parasite frequencies found were evaluated by the chi-squared test. Medically relevant parasites identified were helminths (Strongyloides stercoralis, Ascaris lumbricoides and Hookworms) as well as protozoa (Balantidium coli and Entamoeba coli). 44.6% of the FA samples presented some form of parasite by SS evaluation and 33.4% by SC evaluation; 66.7% of the CA samples presented parasites by SS evaluation, and 44.5% by SC evaluation. No significant differences were noted between the FA and CA groups in either technique. No parasites were found in any of the sanitized lettuces, regardless of the subgroup or technique applied. These results evidence the importance of adequate training and guidance for vegetable growers, food handlers as well as the general population regarding proper hygiene of lettuce leaves prior to consumption.

Mecanismos de resistência antimicrobiana em pseudomonasaeruginosa / Mechanisms responsible for antimicrobial resistance in pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa é uma bactéria de grande importância para indivíduos imunocomprometidos. No Brasil, ela é um dos principais agentes em infecções hospitalares e pode provocar diversos tipos de processos clínicos. Atualmente, um dos maiores desafios em infecções provocadas por P. aeruginosa é a resistência apresentada diante de inúmeros antimicrobianos. Além da resistência intrínseca de P.aeruginosa, essa bactéria facilmente desenvolve mecanismos de resistência adicionais, através de mutações e da aquisição de elementos genéticos móveis, por exemplo. Dessa forma, P. aeruginosa é considerada um patógeno multirresistente, o que limita as alternativas terapêuticas capazes de combatê-lo. Portanto, compreender osmecanismos que levam a essa resistência é de extrema importância para enfrentar as infecções por P. aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a bacterium of great importance forimmunocompromised individuals. In Brazil, it is one of the leadingcauses of hospital infections and can cause many types of infections.Currently, one of the biggest challenges in infections caused by P.aeruginosa is the resistance presented against numerousantimicrobials. In addition to the intrinsic resistance of P. aeruginosa,inherent in the species, this bacterium easily acquire additionalmechanisms of resistance via mutation and acquisition of mobilegenetic elements, for example. Accordingly, P. aeruginosa isconsidered a multidrug-resistant pathogen, which limits thetherapeutic alternatives able to fight it. Therefore, understanding themechanisms that lead to this resistance is of utmost importance totackle infections by P. aeruginosa.