الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Environmental contamination with parasitic elements is of great concern as the main reason of chronic sub clinical infections of human. Soil samples, dogs, foxes and cats’ faeces were surveyed for the presence of Toxocara eggs. The influence of temperature on the development and survival of Toxocara canis larvae was investigated. A molecular assay was developed to identify and differentiate between the two most common species of Toxocara. More than 58% of the soil samples were contaminated with the parasite eggs and 3.96% of the dogs’ faecal samples were positive for Toxocara spp eggs. Toxocara canis eggs were able to develop to the larvated stage at all the tested temperatures. Development rate increased with temperature. Eggs survived cooling to 1 and -2 ºC for 6 weeks, and could develop to the infective, larvated stage when transferred to higher temperatures, but their development rates were then retarded compared with non-chilled eggs. Sensitivity of the molecular assay was such that 5% of a different species in mixed DNA sample and one egg of a different species in a mixture of ten eggs could be identified by melting peaks. |