Zoonotic foci of Toxocara sp.: comparison of two tourist regions in the state of Sucre, Venezuela

• Autores: Gomez-Martinez, Erika, Gonçalves-Vallejos, Márcia Viviana, Bravo - Rodríguez, María Betania, Tulio-Díaz, Marcos, Simoni-González, Zulay, Guilarte, Del Valle, Farias-da Silva, Elizangela, Manuel-Salimo, Zeca, de Sousa-Xavier, Luziana, Grafe Oliveira Pontes
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2024
• Institución: Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal
• Repositorio: Revistas - Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs2.revistas.unfv.edu.pe:article/1825
• Enlace del recurso: https://revistas.unfv.edu.pe/NH/article/view/1825
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Parasitic disease; Epidemiology; Larva migrans; Dogs; Toxocara canis; Zoonosis; Enfermedad parasitaria; Epidemiología; Perros

Toxocariasis is a human infection caused by the larvae of the nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) or Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788), which are parasitic in animals, and represents a serious public health problem. The objective of this study was to investigate the information and prevalence of parasitic toxocariasis in the state of Sucre, Venezuela, particularly in the municipalities of Montes and Sucre, in communities considered vulnerable due to social and economic deficiencies within the epidemiological/sanitary monitoring. In these municipalities, there are many stray dogs living near homes and maintaining contact with other domestic dogs. The seroprevalence of T. canis was evaluated through the ELISA method. A seroprevalence of IgG anti-T. canis was obtained in the parish of San Juan of 90.12% and in the parish of Cumanacoa of 82.14%. In the parish of San Juan, when evaluating the prevalence of parasites by species, T. canis was present in 18.37% of the feces of the canines evaluated. On the other hand, in the parish of Cumanacoa, T. canis was present in 9.90% of the canine samples analyzed; similarly, the presence of Toxocara sp. in soils in both parishes. In summary, the determination of two zoonotic foci of Toxocara sp. in the state of Sucre, Venezuela, since all the factors necessary for the transmission of toxocariasis are present.