toxocara spp. eggs in public parks of urmia city, west azer¬baijan province iran

background : the visceral larva migrans (vlm) is a syndrome observed in human infection with helminth larval eggs such as the toxocara spp. that usually infects dogs and cats. among the risk factors involved in the occurrence of vlm, partic­ularly importance of these animal populations, an investigation was carried out for the presence of toxocara spp. eggs in public parks in the city of urmia, west azerbaijan province, iran. methods : samples were collected from total 26 existing public parks in urmia from december 2003 to march 2004. soil samples were collected from 3-4 distinct sites in the same area. the floating material was analyzed under the light micro­scope. results : toxocara spp. eggs were found in 8 samples of total 102 taken samples from 26 public parks showed a contami­nation rate of 7.8%. the number of observed toxacara eggs in each microscopic field was varied from 1-8. conclusion : low rate of contamination with toxocara spp. eggs in urmia parks might be due to lower dog population and cultural differences of present study in this city in comparison of other cities of the world.