Environmental contamination of different areas of Isfahan province of Iran with Toxocara spp. eggs using molecular methods

Pourshahbazi, Gholamreza; Khanahmad, Hossein; Khadivi, Reza; Pestehchian, Nader; Yousefi, Hossein A; Abdizadeh, Rahman; Mousavi Mobarakeh, Somayeh; Hoseini Boldaji, Fatemeh; Yousofi Darani, Hossein

Environmental contamination of different areas of Isfahan province of Iran with Toxocara spp. eggs using molecular methods

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

² Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

³ Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

⁴ Departmant of Medical Parasitology, School of Medicine, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

Abstract

Background: Toxocariasis is a parasitic disease caused by the larval stage of Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati. Infective stage of this parasite for human develops on soil. So, in this work contamination of the soil of public environments in five geographical areas of Isfahan province of Iran has been investigated.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 355 soil samples were collected from parks, children's playgrounds, student dormitories, and university environments, and examined by Flotation method. The samples were then inspected using microscopic and molecular methods.
Results: From the 355 examined soil samples in 77 (21.69%), and 87 (24.50%) cases Toxocara eggs were detected by microscopic and molecular methods, respectively. In the molecular method, 31 (8.70%) cases of T. cati and 44 (12.39%) cases of T. canis were identified.
Conclusion: Toxocara eggs were identified in all areas of Isfahan province, although contamination rate was higher in Fereydun Shahr and Semirum counties.

Keywords

References

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