Estudo clínico-epidemiológico da toxocaríase em população infantil

Abstract

Objective: The variety of toxocariasis clinic manifestations and its relationship with asthma motivated this study. The aim was to study T.canis seropositivity at a public pediatric service and its association with laboratory, epidemiological and clinical factors.Methods: This study was cross-sectional and controlled. Two hundred and eight children, from 1 to 14 years old and treated at the University of Santo Amaro Pediatric Department s Immunology and Pneumology clinic between January 2000 and January 2001, underwent serology testing. Antibodies were detected by ELISA testing for the larval excretory-secretory antigen of T. canis. We used the chi-square test for T.canis seropositivity (titers > 1:320) associations with: puppies at home, contact with soil, geophagia, onicophagia, mother s educational level, asthma, chronic cough, repetitive pneumonia, skin manifestations, rhinitis, hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, abdominal pain, anemia, eosinophilia, immunoglobulins, parasitosis and stunted growth. The Kruskal-Wallis variance analysis method was used for mean comparisons between seropositive and seronegative groups. Significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: Seroprevalence was 54.8%, with a mean age of 6.5 years while for seronegative children the mean age was 5.8 years, showing no significant difference. There was also no difference between sexes. Seropositivity was significantly associated with puppies at home, contact with soil, hepatomegaly, asthma, eosinophilia, increased serum immunoglobulin (Ig) E levels and stunted growth. Conclusion:Seroprevalence was elevated in this study . T.canis infection must be considered in at-risk children, such as those with puppies at home, who have had contact with soil, who have hepatomegaly and/or asthma with eosinophilia and increased serum IgE.J Pediatr (Rio J). 2005;81(2):126-32: Toxocariasis, asthma, child.

Serological, clinical and epidemiological evaluation of toxocariasis in urban areas of south Brazil

“…antibodies and inhaled allergens such as D. pteronyssinus. FIGUEIREDO et al(2005) 11 also reported an association between asthma and anti-Toxocara spp. IgG antibodies in children.…”

“…Seroepidemiological studies to detect these antibodies have revealed high prevalence, particularly in children 11,13,19 and are important in patients with a peripheral eosinophilia above 400 eosinophils/mL 11,23 and patients showing clinical symptoms 17 .…”

“…IgG antibodies have demonstrated prevalence of this zoonosis in Europe ranging from 2% to 44% 10,20 . Studies of seroprevalence in children have reported 67% positivity in the subtropical region of Argentina 19 , 12.1% in the Brazilian Northeast 7 , and 8.7% to 54.8% in south eastern Brazil 11,32 . In the city of Maringá, in the state of Paraná, south Brazil, seropositivity in children attended at the Municipal Hospital was 28.8% 23 and eggs of Toxocara spp.…”

Toxocariasis: visceral larva migrans in children

“…A síndrome LMV é uma doença causada por ingestão de terra [16][17][18] contendo larvas ou ovos infectados por T. canis 19 . A geofagia não mostrou significância estatística para alguns autores 16,[19][20][21] .…”

“…A geofagia não mostrou significância estatística para alguns autores 16,[19][20][21] . Alguns estudos relatam presença de pica (ingestão de substâncias não comestíveis) nas crianças com LMV 1,3,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28] ; outros relatam a associação entre pica e toxocaríase 5,[29][30][31][32] .…”