Highlights of human toxocariasis

Section: Clinical Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Human toxocariasis: contribution by Brazilian researchers

Chieffi

Santos

Queiroz

et al. 2009

“…Adult females of Toxocara can produce up to 200,000 eggs per day, which are excreted into the environment with the feces of their definitive hosts; these eggs become infective within three to five weeks, depending upon certain environment conditions such as the temperature and humidity. When embryonated, Toxocara eggs are accidentally ingested by humans from soil or contaminated food, infective larvae hatch in the small intestine and migrate through the body, but fail to develop to adult stages within this aberrant host 5,22,24 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human toxocariasis: a seroepidemiological survey in the Amazonian city of Yurimaguas, Peru

Roldán

Cavero

Espinoza

et al. 2010

SUMMARYThe aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of the infection by Toxocara in the general population of the Amazonian city of Yurimaguas, Peru. From March to August 2008, a total of 300 subjects were sampled and tested by means of a Toxocara ELISA-IgG test. A clinical and epidemiological questionnaire was used to assess the symptomatology and risk factors associated with human toxocariasis. The overall rate of seropositivity was 35.66%, with a significant high proportion in children (p < 0.001). The clinical evaluation revealed that 95.33% of the seropositive group had some type of symptomatology: headache (66.36%), respiratory compromise (63.55%), abdominal pain (54.21%), cutaneous signs (40.19%) and ocular manifestations (36.45%), and almost all of them were statistically significant (p < 0.001). Furthermore, 56.07% of the seropositive subjects presented at least one intestinal pathogen parasite with predominance of helminthes, but without significant association (p = 0.334). The analysis of risk factors showed only that the use of public places and geophagia exhibited a significant association with the seropositivity (p < 0.001). Clinical, serological and epidemiological findings associated to infection with Toxocara were observed in the present study and future studies should be done to assess this serious health problem.

“…Human toxocariasis is probably one of the widest spread zoonotic nematode infections, and it is considered one of the most prevalent helminthiasis in industrialized countries 10 . However, it has been underestimated and can be considered as a neglected disease.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental contamination by Toxocara spp. Eggs in a rural settlement in Brazil

Santarém

Franco²,

Kozuki

et al. 2008

SUMMARYIn order to study the environmental contamination by Toxocara spp. eggs in a rural community from the Pontal do Paranapanema region, São Paulo State, Brazil, soil samples from 31 out of 121 plots were collected in eight different places on each house. The samples were submitted to flotation technique in sodium nitrate (d = 1.20g/cm 3 ). Eggs of Toxocara spp. were recovered in nine (29.03%) out of the 31 plots. At least one dog was registered in 27 of the 31 plots examined (87.1%) and at least one cat in 17 (54.84%). The number of pets per plot ranged from one to six (mean of 2.3) for dogs and one to 14 (mean of 1.29) for cats. In 16 plots (51.61%), the presence of both dogs and cats was observed. There was no relation between the presence of pets in the plots and soil contamination (p > 0.05). However, the environmental contamination by Toxocara spp. eggs associated to the poor conditions of the inhabitants may be an important risk factor for the human population to ocular or visceral larva migrans.