[Frequency of Toxocara cati eggs in domestic cats in Mexico City and the State of Mexico]. / Frecuencia de hallazgo de huevos de Toxocara cati en gatos domésticos de la Ciudad de México y el Estado de México.

Toxocariosis is a zoonosis which has been widely studied in dogs. However, not much is known about this parasitosis in cats. The aim of the present work was to determine the frequency of Toxocara cati in domestic cats in Mexico City and the State of Mexico. Feces of 660 domestic cats were studied by the Faust concentration-floating test; 401 samples were from cats living in Mexico City of which 308 lived in houses and 93 in apartments; 231 were from urban areas of the State of Mexico and 28 from a rural area of the same state. The total frequency of T. cati eggs obtained from domestic cats in Mexico City was 42.9%; in cats living in apartments it was 18.3% and in cats living in houses it was 50.3%. In domestic cats from the State of Mexico, T. cati frequency was 36.4% in the urban and 21.4% in the rural areas. We consider that toxocariosis frequency observed at the two studied sites is high and that the need to prevent dissemination of the infectious forms of T. cati is urgent, as is the necessity of informing the population of the risk of living with T. cati parasited animals and of the anatomopathological alterations caused by T. cati in man.

[Anthelmintics as a risk factor in intestinal obstruction by Ascaris lumbricoides in children]. / Antihelmínticos como factor de riesgo en la obstrucción intestinal por Ascaris lumbricoides en niños.

In a retrospective study the authors analyzed the clinical records of 199 children ages one month to 16 years hospitalized, with the diagnosis of intestinal ascariasis, in the Instituto Nacional de Pediatria of Mexico from 1984 to 1999. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of anthelmintics drugs as a risk factor of intestinal obstruction by A. lumbricoides. Two groups were made for the study: Group A (n = 66) of children who presented intestinal obstruction, Group B (n = 133) children with no complications. A comparative analysis of clinical data of both groups was made by means of chi square with Yates correction and a stratified analysis by means of chi square. Possible confusing elements were overcrowding, age and the use of antiparasitic drugs. The calculus of risk factors for intestinal obstruction by A. lumbricoides was done by means of contingency tables of 2 x 2 and odds ratio with an IC of 95%. The significant risk factors were included in a model of logistics regression with an impact variable consting in the presence or absence of intestinal obstruction in order to establish a multivariate model of predictive risk at level of significance of p < 0.05. Twenty-seven patients (40.90%) in group A (n = 66) were given anthelmintics medications prior to the intestinal obstruction: mebendazol, 14 (51-85%); two, albedazol (7.4%); eight, a non-specified anthelmintic (29.6%). In addition, an anthelmintic medication without a specified time of ingestion: two with mebendazol and one with piperazine (11.3%). In the case of mebendazol, the drug most frequently associated with intestinal obstruction, seven patients received it on the same day of the obstruction; five patients received it between one and seven days prior to the obstruction; two received it seven days prior to the complication. In the control group, only 7% had taken the anthelmintic one to seven days before the diagnosis of uncomplicated intestinal ascariasis diagnosis was made. With the step by step (Backward) logistic regression conditioned by the treatment variable with an anthelmintic, an X2 = 38.15 gl, p < 0.000 was obtained for which reason it was considered by A. lumbricoides. Of the probable risk factors analyzed in this study, the only one capable of influencing and predicting the presentation of intestinal obstruction by A. lumbricoides in children, was the prior anthelmintic treatment particularly with mebendazol.

[Soil contamination with Toxocara sp. eggs in public parks and home gardens from Mexico City]. / Contaminación de suelos por huevos de Toxocara sp. en parques públicos y jardines de casas-habitación de la ciudad de México.

Due to de high number of stray dogs and cats which defecate in public places in Mexico City (3 millions approximately), in addition to domestic dogs and cats, exists the potential risk to man of infection by Toxocara sp. eggs. A study to determine the contamination frequency by Toxocara sp. eggs in public parks, public flower beds, and home gardens in Mexico City, Distrito Federal, was carried out in the 1995 first semester. Fourteen hundred and five soil samples were collected from 156 public parks, 83 public flower beds and 42 home gardens across the 16 delegations in Mexico City, Distrito Federal. Samples were processed by the zinc sulfate centrifugal flotation method, and supernatants read by microscopy. Out of the whole 281 sampled sites, 12.5% were found contaminated with Toxocara sp. eggs. Positivity found was: 10.9% in public parks, 13.3% in public flower beds and 16.7% in home gardens. Ninety percent of the eggs were embryonated or larvaeted measuring 60 to 90 micrometers. The high contamination frequencies found make necessary to prompt for Public Health measures granted the risk of infection acquisition spread on the most exposed population (children) provided that it is acquired via geophagia.

[Generalized microsporidiosis caused by Encephalitozoon sp. in a pediatric patient with Bruton's disease]. / Microsporidiosis generalizada por Encephalitozoon sp. en un paciente pediátrico con enfermedad de Bruton.

We present the case of a four-year-old boy with a history of repeated upper respiratory tract infections and pyoderma. He presented fever, seizures, inability to talk, loss of swallowing, fine tremor in the upper extremities; positive bilateral Babinski reflex and quadriparesis. The diagnosis of Bruton's disease and generalized microporidiosis was based on immunologic analysis, smear tests with chromotrope R2 stain and indirect immunofluorescense with monoclonal 3B6 antibody for Encephalitozoon species in samples of spinal fluid, bronchial and paranasal sinus aspirates and stool, which were all positive. The patient was treated with albendazol during 72 days; he left the hospital in a good condition, walking, talking and able to swallow. His laboratory test controls were negative; he is followed up in the outpatient department.