Seroprevalence of toxocara infections in schoolchildren in the Eastern Caribbean - abstract

ABSTRACT

Very little is known about the prevalence of Toxocara infections in the Eastern Caribbean. The development of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has proved to be of great value in assisting clinicians in diagnosing toxocariasis and has been a useful tool in the study of the prevalence of toxocariasis. We have used ELISA to study the prevalence of toxocariasis in six countries of the Eastern Caribbean. The secretory-excretory antigen and reference sera for the assay were obtained from the University of Toronto. Test sera were collected from school children aged 5 years and 9 years from Antigua, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Vincent, St. Christopher-Nevis and Grenada. These sera were collected for polio antibody prevalence surveys and were stored in our serum bank. Sera with a titre of 100 or more were considered positive for Toxocara. Overall prevalence rates were Antigua - 38.8 percent (n=322), Montserrat - 47.4 percent (n=228), Dominica - 59.9 percent (n=157), St. Vincent - 63.2 percent (n=285), St. Christopher-Nevis - 66.1 percent (n=168) and Grenada - 78.0 percent (n=387). Although antibody prevalence was high, no full-blown cases of visceral larva migrans have been reported in these countries. The public health significance of these findings is unclear (AU)