Epidemiology of Toxocariasis in the Montreal area. Prevalence of Toxocara and other helminth ova in dogs and soil.

Abstract

Toxocara infection rates in dogs, within the Montreal Metropolitan area , range between 10.5 and 50%. Toxocara eggs were recovered from 32.5% of soil samples in public parks and from 1 7.9% of samples from playgrounds: 71% and 57% of these eggs respectively were embryonated. A high proportion of larvae were still alive after 5 months of cool season. Other helminth ova (Toxascaris leonina, hookworm, Trichuris sp. and tremai odes) were also found in dog faeces.