Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T08:25:12.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sero-epidemiology of toxocariasis in school children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

C. V. Holland ,
P. O'Lorcain ,
M. R. H. Taylor  and
A. Kelly
C. V. Holland
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
P. O'Lorcain
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
M. R. H. Taylor
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatrics, Trinity College, and the National Children's Hospital, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
A. Kelly
Affiliation:
Department of Community Health and General Practice, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The seroprevalence of toxocariasis was investigated in 2129 school children ranging in age from 4 to 19 years. Infection, as measured by titre, was found to be high compared to values obtained from children in other countries, with 31% having a titre of ≥ 1:50 and 3·1% having titres of ≥ 1:800. Relalionships between seroprevalence and host factors including age, sex and location, and risk factors including geophagia, thumbsucking and pet ownership were explored. Age was found to be a significant factor in relation to infeclion with Toxocara. Males were significantly more infected than females, as were the inhabitants of rural schools versus urban schools. The percentage of seropositive children varied widely from school to school. Geophagia and pet ownership were found to be significantly associated with toxocariasis. Logistic regression analysis was used to model the relative contribution of these factors to infection wilh Toxocara. While this analysis identified factors which were highly significantly associated with Toxocara titre, the odds ratios were generally low indicating ihe low specificity of the model.

Keywords

toxocariasisepidemiologyserologychildrenhost faclorsrisk factors
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 110 , Issue 5 , June 1995 , pp. 535 - 545
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abo-Shedhada, M. N., Sharif, L., El-Sukhon, S. N., Abuharfeil, N. & Atmeh, R. F. (1992). Seroprevalence of Toxocara canis antibodies in humans in Northern Jordan. Journal of Helminthology 66, 75–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beaver, P. C., Synder, C. H., Carrera, G. M., Dent, J. H. & Lafferty, J. W. (1952). Chronic eosinophilia due to visceral larva migrans. Pediatrics 9, 7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buijs, J. (1993). Toxocara infection and airway function: an experimental and epidemiological study. Ph.D. thesis, Utrecht University.Google Scholar
Conde, G. L., Muro, A. A. & Simon, M. F. (1989). Epidemiological studies on toxocariasis and visceral migrans in a zone of Western Spain. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 83, 615–20.Google Scholar
de Savigny, D. H., Voller, A. & Woodruff, A. W. (1979). Toxocariasis: serological diagnosis by enzyme immunoassay. Journal of Clinical Pathology 32, 284–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Embil, J. A., Tanner, C. E., Pereira, L. H., Staudt, M., Morrison, E. G. & Gualazzi, D. A. (1988). Seroepidemiological survey of Toxocara canis infection in urban and rural children. Public Health 102, 129–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, S. H. (1993). Human toxocariasis. Communicable Disease Report 3, 140–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Glickman, L. T. & Schantz, P. M. (1981). Epidemiology of zoonotic toxocariasis. Epidemiological Reviews 3, 230–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herrmann, N., Glickman, L. T., Schantz, P. M., Weston, M. G. & Domanski, L. M. (1985). Seroprevalence of zoonotic Toxocariasis in the United States: 1971–1973. American Journal of Epidemiology 122, 890–986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holland, C., O'Connor, P., Taylor, M. R. H., Hughes, G., Girdwood, R. W. A. & Smith, H. (1991). Families, parks, gardens and toxocariasis. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 23, 225–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Josephs, D. H., Bhinder, P. & Thompson, A. R. (1981). The prevalence of Toxocara infection in a child population. Public Health (London) 95, 273–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenny, V. & Allwright, S. P. A. (1987). The Seroprevalence of toxocariasis in a hospital based sample in Ireland. Irish Journal of Medical Science 156, 361–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, J. W. & Maizels, R. M. (1993). Toxocara and Toxocariasis. London: British Society of Parasitology and Institute of Biology.Google Scholar
Ljungström, I. & Knapen, Van F. (1989). An epidemiological and serological study of Toxocara infection in Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases 21, 87–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmor, M., Glickman, L. T., Shofer, F., Faich, L. A., Rosenberg, C., Cornblatt, B. & Friedman, S. (1987). Toxocara canis infection of children: epidemiologic and neurological findings. American Journal of Public Health 77, 554–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsumura, K. & Endo, R. (1983). Seroepidemiological study on Toxocara infection in man by enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay. Journal of Hygiene 90, 61–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mermet, G. (1991). Euroscopie: an Official Reference Book to EC Statistics. Larousse, France.Google Scholar
Pegg, E. J. (1975). Dog round worms and public health. Veterinary Record 97, 78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rée, G. H., Voller, A. & Rowland, H. A. K. (1984).Toxocariasis in the British Isles 1982–3. British Medical Journal 288, 628–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schantz, P. M., Weiss, P. E., Pollard, Z. F. & White, M. C. (1980). Risk factors for toxocaral ocular migrans: a case control study. American Journal of Public Health 70, 1269–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sheilds, J. A. (1984). Ocular toxocariasis. A review. Opthalmology 28, 361–81.Google Scholar
Stata Corporation (1993). Stata Reference Manual: Release 3.1.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. R. H. (1993). Toxocariasis in Ireland. In Toxocara and Toxocariasis (ed. Lewis, J. W. & Maizels, R. M.) pp. 71–80. London: British Society of Parasitology and Institute of Biology.Google Scholar
Taylor, M. R. H., Keane, C. T., O'Connor, P., Mulville, E. & Holland, C. (1988). The expanded spectrum of toxocaral disease. The Lancet 26, 692–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D. E., Bundy, D. A. P., Cooper, E. S. & Schantz, P. M. (1986). Epidemiological characteristics of Toxocara canis zoonotic infection of children in a Caribbean community. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 64, 283–90.Google Scholar
Gemund, Van J. J., Buijs, J., Dongen, Van P. A. M. & Burgh, Van Den J. P. A. M. (1989). Seroprevalence of Toxocara infection in young children in the city of the Hague. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 41, 294–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Worley, G., Green, J. A., Frothingham, T. E., Sturner, R. A., Walls, K. W., Pakalnis, V. A. & Ellis, G. S. Jr. (1984). Toxocara canis infection: clinical and epidemiological associations with seropositivity in kindergarten children. Journal of Infectious Diseases 149, 591–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed