The frequency rate of Toxocara species contamination in soil samples from public yards in a urban area "Payathai", Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Toxocara species are most common roundworms of Canidae and Felidae. Human toxocariasis develops by ingesting of embryonated eggs in contaminated soil. There is no previous report of Toxocara contamination in the soil samples from the public areas in Bangkok. For this reason our study have been carried out to examine the frequency of Toxocara eggs in public yards in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 175 sand and clay samples were collected and examined for parasite eggs. According to this study, Toxocara eggs were detected from 10 (5.71%) of 175 soil samples. The high rate of contamination in this study implies the importance of the control of this possible zoonotic disease: control of abandon of dogs and cats, is still necessary.

Soil Contamination With Eggs of Toxocara Species in Public Parks of Karaj, Iran

“…7 The contamination rates of soil with Toxocara eggs in public parks and children playgrounds have been reported to be 5.71% in soil samples in Thailand, 38-53% in Poland, 53.3% in Brazil, 62.5% in Turkey, 64% in Italy, and 67% in Spain. [11][12][13][14][15][16] Some factors may have contributed to this inconsistency, such as climatic and environmental conditions.…”

Contamination of the soil by eggs of geohelminths in rural areas of Lodz district (Poland)

“…50 % of positive samples were found in parks and sand pits in Utrecht (Holand) (Jansen et al, 1993), 62.6 % of playground samples in Kirikkale (Turkey) (Özkayhan, 2006), 45 % in parks in Prague (Czech Republic) (Dubná et al, 2008), 23 -49 % in recreation area and city backyards in three Polish cities (Poznan, Katowice, Cracow) (Mizgajska & Luty, 1998;Mizgajska, 2000;Grygierczyk et al, 2003), 39 % and 50 % in holiday resort places in France (Ferré & Dorchies, 2000;Beugnet & Gadat, 1993), 87% in the sand in children's playgrounds in Frankfurt (Duwel, 1984). A lower contamination (1 -8 %) was seen in the playgrounds and parks in Sapporo City (Japan), Melbourne (Australia) and Urmia City (Iran) (Carden et al 2003;Matsuo & Najashio, 2005;Tavassoli et al, 2008), in public gardens in Resistencia city (Argentina), in public yards in Bangkok (Thailand) Wiwanitkit & Waenlor, 2004). Seroprevalence rates reported in humans in different countries reflect the contamination of soil with Toxocara spp.…”

“…Many countries have enacted guidelines for the use and disposal of biosolids by adopting those of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 1993) which stipulate <1 viable helminth egg/4 g total solids (TS). According to the WHO guidelines 2006 for the safe manure, helminth eggs should be reduced to ≤1 viable nematode egg/liter of treated wastewater or to ≤1 viable nematode egg/g (TS) in compost used for vegetable fertilization (WHO, 2006). In Poland the condition for the use of organic fertilizers applied in growing vegetables and fruit for consumption by people is total absence of live helminth eggs from Ascaris, Trichuris and Toxocara (Ziomko, 2006).…”

“…A higher antibody prevalence in the rural population compared to the urban one was recorded in Ireland (Holland et al, 1995), in the Slovak Republic (Havasiova et al, 1993), in China (Luo et al, 1999), in the Czech Republic (Uhlikova & Hubner, 1998) and in Poland (Borecka et al, 2010). The use of wastewater, human and animal excreta in agriculture is a traditional and widespread practice in developing countries, but its use may have negative impact on human health (WHO, 2006). The main health risk associated with natural fertilizer use (mainly fresh or inadequately composted manure) is infection with intestinal nematodes, in particular infections with Ascaris spp.…”

“…(Blumenthal et al, 2001;Amahmid & Bouhoum, 2005;Trang et al, 2007). Agricultural use of natural manure must be designed for sanitization to reduce helminth eggs counts and viability, to meet the WHO nematode guideline of <1 viable egg/g total solids (WHO, 2006). Ascaris eggs are particularly important as indicator of the hygienic quality of natural compost.…”