Study on the contamination of Abadan public parks soil with Toxocara spp. eggs

BACKGROUND Toxocariasis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases caused by Toxocara larva stage in humans. One of the major transmission routes of infection, especially in children is pica. The aim of this topic was study the contamination of Abadan public parks with Toxocara eggs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two hundred and ninety one samples of soil were collected from 31 parks. The samples were examined for Toxocara spp. eggs by modified floatation method using saturated sucrose. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 19 and Chi-square test. RESULTS Eighty five (29.2%) out of 291 samples were infected with Toxocara spp. eggs, means19 (61.2%) of the 31 parks were contaminated. There was no significant difference between the urban and suburb parks contamination (p = 0.208) but there was significant relation between contamination with Toxocara spp. eggs and traces of cats and dogs presence in the parks (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION As the contamination of Abadan public parks soil with Toxocara spp. eggs is relatively high, the people and specially children might get the contamination during stay in the parks and measures should be taken to control the stray cats and dogs.