Presence of Anti-Toxocara canis antibodies in sheep

Abstract

Toxocariasis is one of the most commonly reported helminth zoonotic infections throughout the world. Its main etiologic agent is the Toxocara canis nematode, and less frequently Toxocara cati, whose final hosts are the dog and cat respectively [6, 9, and 11]. It is acquired through the ingestion of embryonated eggs exposed to infected soil, geophagy, poorly washed hands, onychophagy, as well as the ingestion of vegetables with animal feces and larvae encysted in the tissue of paratenic hosts (various animals) [2,3,14]. These animals host hipobiotic larvae in the liver and other tissues, which can be transmitted to humans trough the ingestion of raw or undercooked meat [1, 4]. However there is little information available on the prevalence of T. canis infection in humans trough paratenic hosts such as horses, sheep, birds, etc. [13]. The objective of the present study was to determine the presence of T. canis antibodies in sheep of Ayapango, Mexico State, Mexico.