Presencia de bacterias salmonella spp y shigella spp en moluscos bivalvos del género anadara, extraídos de la zona El Coco e isla Jambelí.

Abstract

Aquaculture is a very developed field where we can find a multitude of organisms such as shells, mussels, crabs, fish, among others, at the same time these are very much desired by consumers, usually the bivalves since they have a high amount of protein and minerals, the vast majority of the population prefers them raw, for their excellent taste in many dishes of Ecuadorian gastronomy. The bivalve molluscs are filtering and sessile organisms, it is one of the most extensive, with more than 60,000 species, these animals can store in the visceral mass a number of microorganisms such as phytoplankton and zooplankton that is their natural food, but many of them are usually pathogenic and when consumed by humans would represent a high risk to their health. The collection of bivalve molluscs is very common in the province of El Oro, these are extracted from mangroves that are often contaminated by heavy metals, total coliforms and other anthropogenic activities exercised by man. The presence of this contamination in the coastal areas of molluscs, which are sold and consumed raw by people, both artisanal fishers and manual mollusc harvesters and the general population, who are exposed to diseases such as acute gastroenteritis, shigellosis, salmonellosis and symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea and stomach cramps, is due to the absence of a sewage treatment plant in the province of El Oro. In some Latin American countries, codes of good practice have been implemented in order to reduce the bacterial load in molluscs so that they can be consumed without harming humans.