Toxocariasis in children attending a Public Health Service Pneumology Unit in Paraná State, Brazil Toxocaríase em crianças atendidas em Unidade de Pneumologia do Serviço de Saúde Pública, Paraná, Brasil

• Main Authors: Edson V. Guilherme, Ariella A. Marchioro, Silvana M. Araujo, Dina Lúcia Morais Falavigna, Carolina Adami, Gustavo Falavigna-Guilherme, Guita Rubinsky-Elefant, Ana Lucia Falavigna-Guilherme
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2013
• Subjects: Toxocara spp; Children; Respiratory tract; Toxocariasis; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/72b803b34c95444cbd8b97cc41a6d724

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the most widely used tool to detect anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies for both serodiagnostic and seroepidemiological surveys on human toxocariasis. In the last eight years a high prevalence of toxocariasis (32.2-56.0%) has been reported in children attending public health units from municipalities in the state of Paraná, Brazil. Therefore, the aim of this work was to compare the frequency found among the general child population with that of children attending a public pneumology service in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil and describe the laboratorial, clinical and epidemiological findings. The research was conducted at the Consórcio Público Intermunicipal de Saúde do Setentrião Paranaense (CISAMUSEP) from July 2009 to July 2010 among children aged between one and 15 years. From a total of 167 children studied, only 4.2% (7/167) tested positive for anti-Toxocara spp. IgG antibodies and presented mild eosinophilia (2/7), increased serum IgE levels (6/7) and a positive allergy test for mites (5/7). The presence of pets (dogs or cats) at home did not correlate with the seroprevalence. In conclusion, cases of toxocariasis involving the respiratory tract are rare in children attending a public health pneumology unit in the northwestern region of Paraná State, despite the high prevalence of this type of toxocariasis among the infantile population attending Basic Health Units in the same geographical area. O teste imunoenzimático (ELISA) constitui a ferramenta mais utilizada no diagnóstico individual da toxocaríase humana e/ou em inquéritos soroepidemiológicos para pesquisa de anticorpos IgG anti-Toxocara spp. Tendo em vista a elevada freqüência da toxocaríase (32,2% e 56,0%) observada em crianças atendidas em Unidades Básicas de Saúde de municípios do noroeste do Paraná, durante pesquisas realizadas ao longo dos últimos oito anos, o objetivo deste trabalho foi comparar estas frequências em crianças encaminhadas a uma unidade de Pneumologia do serviço de saúde pública da cidade de ...