Background: Toxocariasis caused by Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati is a worldwide zoonotic parasitic infection that can be acquired from contaminated soil. The soil contamination of public places and parks is one of the effective factors in human pollution. Objectives: The current study was designed and implemented to investigate the prevalence of Toxocara species eggs in the soil of Marand parks (in the northwest of Iran). Materials and Methods: Present cross-sectional study was conducted between September and December 2021. Overall, 160 samples were collected from 10 large parks with high traffic and then analyzed by parasitological techniques (sucrose flotation). Results: The overall prevalence was assessed at 27.2% in Marand public parks; the highest and lowest prevalence rates were related to Besat park and Shahr park, respectively (39.6% vs. 19.3%). The maximum number of recovered eggs from 100 grams of soil was seven eggs. Conclusion: Considering the remarkable prevalence of Toxocara spp. in the Marand parks, control and preventive measures seem necessary.
There are frequent epidemiological and experimental proofs to propose that Entamoeba gingivalis and Trichomonas tenax infections are ignored factors for the development of dental and periodontal diseases. For a more comprehensive review, the present study was designed and conducted, including a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases for retrieving related reports up to December 01, 2019. Finally, 48 studies (a total of 70 datasets), including 30 datasets with case-control designs (1711 patients and 614 controls) and 40 datasets with cross-sectional designs (a total of 7257 participants) met the eligibility criteria. Based on the random-effects model, the pooled prevalence of protozoan infections in dental and periodontal patients was estimated to be 25.2% (95% CI, 21.2-29.8%; 2210/8968). In case-control designed studies, the prevalence of protozoan infections in dental and periodontal patients (35.8%, 614/1711) was found to be significantly higher than in controls (14.4%, 198/1371; OR: 4.15, 95% CI: 2.92-5.92). In addition, E. gingivalis (OR: 3.81, 95% CI: 2.36-6.14) and T. tenax (OR: 5.08, 95% CI: 2.81-9.20) were significantly higher in dental and periodontal patients compared to the controls. Our results demonstrated an apparently significant association between these protozoan infections in dental and periodontal patients. In conclusion, more standardized experimental designs are proposed using the animal model, and longitudinal (cohort) studies support the association between these protozoan infections in dental and periodontal patients to understand whether E. gingivalis and T. tenax infections are a co-factor in the development of dental and periodontal patients.
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