Seasonal variation in the prevalence of Toxocara eggs on children's playgrounds in the city of Hanover, Germany.

BACKGROUND: Roundworms of the genus Toxocara are worldwide distributed zoonotic parasites of carnivores. Based on case numbers and the potential impact on human health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) categorised toxocarosis as one of the most important neglected parasitic diseases. As contact with contaminated soil, e.g. in sandpits, is considered the primary transmission route, data on playground contamination are needed to assess infection risk for children. Here, playground contamination rates and their seasonal variation in the city of Hanover, Germany, were investigated. METHODS: Sand samples were collected monthly over a 12-month period on 46 playgrounds in the city of Hanover, Germany. In total, 1,362 samples were examined for Toxocara eggs and analysed statistically for seasonal influences on potential infection risk. RESULTS: Contamination rates ranged from 6.5% (3/46) Toxocara positive sandpits in September to 41.3% (19/46) in February, while contamination with infective embryonated eggs varied between 2.2% (1/46) and 23.9% (11/46). Compared to September, the month with the lowest contamination rate, significantly more sandpits were positive for Toxocara eggs from January to August and in October, while the prevalence of infective Toxocara eggs was significantly increased only in January and February. Regarding egg numbers, significantly higher total counts were observed in October and from December to June, while infective egg counts were significantly increased only in January, February and April. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to data from 1985, contamination rates have dropped from 55.8% to an average of 23.2% in 2011. Even though the observed egg numbers indicate a moderate to low general infection risk, the potential risk to single individuals should not be underestimated, as highly contaminated spots may occur infrequently and independent of season.

Flotation and adherence characteristics of Toxocara canis and T. cati and a reliable method for recovering Toxocara eggs from soil.

Toxocara canis and T. cati are worldwide distributed intestinal nematodes of canids and felids and pose a threat to public health due to possible clinical manifestations in humans. Different methods for detection of Toxocara eggs in soil have been described, but conducted studies deal with egg recovery rates of T. canis or "Toxocara spp." only whereas T. cati egg recovery has not been taken into consideration. Thus, flotation properties in sodium chloride solution and adherence characteristics to different substrates possibly coming into contact with Toxocara eggs before or during purification from soil were evaluated for both, T. canis and T. cati eggs. No significant difference was observed in flotation characteristics, but comparison of adherence properties revealed significantly less adherence of T. cati eggs on almost all evaluated substrates ("sand", side sealed bags, glass beaker, centrifuge tube) and different washing solutions (tap water, Tween(®) 80, Triton™ X-100). Mean adhesion rates of T. cati eggs ranged from 15.9% to 68.9%, those of T. canis eggs from 28.3% to 83.9%. While adherence of T. cati eggs on any substrate was significantly reduced when rinsing with Tween(®) 80 solution, no effect on T. canis eggs could be observed. Generally, Toxocara eggs adhere better on plastic than on glass. Evaluation of a method including only non-hazardous substances for purification of Toxocara eggs from soil resulted in a statistically significant higher recovery rate of T. canis (42.6% recovered eggs) compared to T. cati eggs (30.9% recovered eggs). As these percentages are above average for described methods to recover Toxocara eggs from soil, the presented method is considered reliable for prevalence studies.