a study on toxocara canis (ascaridida: ascaridae) infection in dogs and soil of public parks of piranshahr city, west azarbaijan province, iran

background: toxocara canis is one of the most frequent small intestinal helminths of dogs with zoonotic importance through which the soil is contaminated with the eggs through the fecal excretion. objectives: this study was carried out to determine t. canis infection in dogs and soil of public parks of piranshahr city using fecal examination. methods: in the present study, a total of 150 feces and 150 soil samples were randomly collected from piranshahr city in the period april 2012 to april 2013. the specimens were subjected for floation using clayton-lane method. results: the average rate of infection in examined dogs and soil was respectively 31.3% and 8%. the infection in stray dogs, sheepdogs and watchdogs were respectively 32.14%, 25.7%, 33.89%. the infection had significant difference between age groups of 1 years-old (22.44%) (p