Toxocariasis is a parasitic disease caused by roundworms of cats and dogs. The disease is endemic throughout the United States and causes significant morbidity in children, including damage to the lungs, liver, or central nervous system, especially the eyes. Two well established clinical syndromes of disease include visceral and ocular toxocariasis. Symptoms of visceral toxocariasis include abdominal pain, cough, or wheezing. Vision loss or strabismus are common symptoms of ocular toxocariasis. Serologic testing for presence of Toxocara antibody is available, although a positive test result does not necessarily correlate with active clinical infection. Albendazole or mebendazole is the recommended treatment for visceral toxocariasis. Treatment options for ocular toxocariasis include corticosteroids or ophthalmic surgery; anthelminthic medications also may be used. Risk for toxocariasis can be reduced by handwashing after soil contact, routine pets deworming, discouraging geophagia, and appropriate disposal of pet feces.

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Toxocariasis is a preventable parasitic disease that is caused by the dog and cat roundworms Toxocara cani and T. cati, respectively. Humans become infected when they accidently ingest infectious Toxocara eggs commonly found in contaminated soil; children are most often affected. Clinical manifestations of Toxocara infection in humans include ocular toxocariasis and visceral toxocariasis. Although infection with Toxocara can cause devastating disease, the burden of toxocariasis in the United States population remains unknown. In addition, risk factors for acquiring infection need to be better defined, and research needs to be conducted to better understand the pathophysiology and clinical course of toxocariasis. Development of diagnostic tests would enable clinicians to detect active infection, and determination of optimal drug regiments would ensure patients were appropriately treated. Addressing these public health gaps is necessary to understand and address the impact of toxocariasis in the United States.

BackgroundSchistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that affects over 200 million people, can lead to significant morbidity and mortality; distribution of single dose preventative chemotherapy significantly reduces disease burden. Implementation of control programs is dictated by disease prevalence rates, which are determined by costly and labor intensive screening of stool samples. Because ecological and human factors are known to contribute to the focal distribution of schistosomiasis, we sought to determine if specific environmental and geographic factors could be used to accurately predict Schistosoma mansoni prevalence in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Methodology/Principal FindingsA spatial mixed model was fit to assess associations with S. mansoni prevalence in schools. Data on S. mansoni prevalence and GPS location of the school were obtained from 457 primary schools. Environmental and geographic data layers were obtained from publicly available sources. Spatial models were constructed using ArcGIS 10 and R 2.13.0. Lower S.mansoni prevalence was associated with further distance (km) to Lake Victoria, higher day land surface temperature (LST), and higher monthly rainfall totals. Altitude, night LST, human influence index, normalized difference vegetation index, soil pH, soil texture, soil bulk density, soil water capacity, population, and land use variables were not significantly associated with S. mansoni prevalence.ConclusionsOur model suggests that there are specific environmental and geographic factors that influence S. mansoni prevalence rates in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Validation and use of schistosomiasis prevalence maps will allow control programs to plan and prioritize efficient control campaigns to decrease schistosomiasis burden.