To evaluate the potential risk associated with zoonotic ascarid eggs in educational facilities and public playground in Seoul city, the sand samples collected from April to December in 2011 were examined with a fecal flotation method. Of 5,066 sand samples from 1,367 playgrounds tested, 12 sands from 12 places (0.88%) had ascarid eggs. Sand samples in educational facilities were more contaminated (10/870, 1.15%) with the parasite eggs than those of public playground area (2/497, 0.4%). Fisher's exact tests were used to make pairwise comparisons between which locations were more or less similar with regard to levels of contamination. We didn't find significantly different from one another. Most ascarid eggs detected were found in the Spring. Through this study, we hope to raise awareness of contamination of playgrounds by potentially infectious ascarid ova.
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