Worm affecting brain not restricted to cabbage: Expert

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 29

Dispelling the myth that the presence of a special kind of worm found only in cabbage affected the functioning of brain, Prof Veena Tandon, a Padam Shri recipient and parasitologist, said the poor quality of soil and water was responsible for the breeding of such insects and these could be found in all vegetables.

She further said it was not only cabagge that was affected by the worm but also other vegetables that are grown in poor soil and water. She added that the only solution to the problem is in properly washing vegetables before cooking.

She said due to the lack of awareness, a large number of people were getting affected by food-borne infections. She was in the city to address during the 10th Chandigarh Science Congress (CHASCON) at Panjab University.

Prof Veena Tandon spoke on newly emerging health-related problems. She talked about the infections caused by worms in human beings. She also apprised the audience of how such infections got transmitted to human beings. She added that the transmission chain involved food, including both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. She said most of the time people were not aware of the risk involved when affected by such infections.

Earlier, the first session of event was chaired by Prof P Guptasarma Dean (R&D), IISER, Mohali. Noted scientist and acting Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, Prof Amitabha Chattopadhay, spoke on fundamentals of fluorescence spectroscopy. He elaborated upon fluorescence-based techniques and their application.