Toxocara eggs in recreational soils in an Argentine city

In order to evaluate pollution of public recreational soils with Toxocara eggs, and to know the risk of these areas in relation to the urban and geographical characteristics of the city, 612 soil samples from 6 big squares, 4 parks and 34 small squares of the city of Resistencia (Province of Chaco, Argentina) were collected and processed by flotation-centrifugal method on ClNa solution. Toxocara eggs were found in 33.3% of big squares, in 25% of public parks and in 20.6% of the small squares; 61.5% of positive samples showed embryonat-ed eggs belonging to 5 big squares, 3 parks and 8 small squares. Also, Ancylostomidae eggs were found in 83.3% of the big squares, 75% of the parks and in 50.8% of the small squares. The high level of soil pollution found in this work may be caused by the big canine population present in the city, the high number of stray dogs and the lack of municipal hygienic and sanitary policies to prevent the presence of animal feces in public recreational areas.