Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. Contamination of Food and Water Consumed by Children with Diarrhoea in Maputo, Mozambique

Sara Faife, Custódia Macuamule, Josphat Gichure, Tine Hald and Elna Buys ()
Additional contact information
Sara Faife: Department of Consumer and Food Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Custódia Macuamule: Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Veterinary Faculty, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo P.O. Box 257, Mozambique
Josphat Gichure: Department of Consumer and Food Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Pretoria 0028, South Africa
Tine Hald: National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Private Bag 201, 2800 Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
Elna Buys: Department of Consumer and Food Sciences, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Pretoria 0028, South Africa

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 9, 1-13

Abstract: In Mozambique, about 500,000 cases of diarrhoea were caused by foodborne pathogens in 2018. A review of the epidemiology of diarrhoea in children under five showed a high disease burden. This study aimed to identify Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) and Salmonella spp. contamination of food and water in urban and rural areas of Maputo consumed by children under five with diarrhoea. One hundred and eighty-six children with diarrhoea were selected from Primeiro de Maio and Marracuene Health Care Centres from the Kamaxakeni and Marracuene districts, respectively. Food (n = 167) and water (n = 100) samples were collected in children’s households for diarrhoeagenic bacterial identification. Interviews were conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data about demographics and foods consumed a week before the children’s diarrhoea episodes. The prevalence of both DEC and Salmonella spp. was 9.8% in food and 5.4% in water samples. DEC was most prevalent in cereals (urban = 2.8%; rural = 2.4%) and water samples (urban = 1.4%; rural = 3.3%). Salmonella spp. was mainly detected in cereals (urban = 0.7%; rural = 0.8%). Diarrhoeagenic pathogens were associated with the type of food frequently consumed by children under five years with diarrhoea (infant formula, fruit puree, ready-to-eat meals, and bottled water), while the association with demographics was absent. We found that the infant foods consumed by children with diarrhoea are associated with DEC and Salmonella spp., and the prevalence of these contaminants is higher in the rural (8.9%) than in the urban area (6.3%), showing the need for caregiver education on food handling practices.

Keywords: food; water; diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli; Salmonella spp.; Mozambique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1122/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1122/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1122-:d:1464220

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().