Park entrances, commonly contaminated with infective Toxocara canis eggs, present a risk of zoonotic infection and an opportunity for focused intervention

Abstract

Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati, the common roundworms of dogs and cats respectively are commonly found in the soil of public parks. This zoonotic parasite can also infect humans causing difficult to diagnose diseases. Direct contact with contaminated soil is considered one of the primary routes of transmission from animals to humans with the contamination of public places common around the world. In this study we aimed to employ an easily repeatable soil sampling methodology to identify differences in contamination levels between and within parks. Egg density was found to differ significantly between parks and park entrances were the most heavily contaminated locations within parks, followed by playgrounds. Species confirmation by polymerase chain reaction was conducted on a proportion of the recovered eggs and identified most as T. canis (n=36) while three eggs were identified as T. cati. These results indicate that dogs are responsible for the majority of environmental contamination in Dublin City parks, with the highest levels of contamination found around park entrances. Concentration of preventive efforts on dog fouling at these sites is recommended to reduce risks of zoonotic disease transmission.