Foodborne protozoan parasites: ¿How are we in colombia?

Food contamination by parasites is a major public health problem worldwide, especially in Latin America, characterized by being one of the main fruit and vegetable pantries, which distributes these foods to different countries in the world. In Colombia it has been possible to evidence outbreaks due to the consumption of food contaminated by protozoa such as Toxoplasma gondii, Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium spp, Trypanosoma cruzi, Cyclospora cayetanensis and Entamoeba histolytica, and these have also been inoculated in food. In some of these cases, the outbreaks are not investigated or deepened, especially when the etiological agent involved is a parasite, highlighting the great deficiency that this aspect presents in public health. Therefore, in this review, it is intended to collect information from various studies, investigations, reports and followups on the presence of the aforementioned protozoa, where it seeks to make a strong appeal to the health sector, highlighting the importance of parasitic diseases and prevalence that these have in the country, especially in rural areas where basic health services, education and hygiene culture turn out to be an inconvenience, favoring these parasites.