Ancylostoma spp. on beaches of Elota, Sinaloa, México

Background: Eggs and larvaes of Ancylostoma spp. can disseminated in the soil of public areas, and resist to adverse environment conditions, capable of surviving for many months. Humans and pets can infect that have contact with contaminated soil of parks and sand of beaches. Ancylostomiasis can be a zoonotic infection with hookworm species that do not use humans as a definitive host, the most common being A. braziliense and A. caninum. The normal definitive hosts for these species are dogs and cats; humans may also become infected when filariform larvae penetrate the skin With most species, the larvae cannot mature further in the human host, and migrate aimlessly within the epidermis, causing cutaneous larva migrans (also known as creeping eruption), sometimes as much as several centimeters a day. Some larvae may persist in deeper tissue after finishing their skin migration. Occasionally A. caninum larvae may migrate to the human intestine, causing eosinophilic enteritis. Ancylostoma caninum larvae have also been implicated as a cause of diffuse unilateral subacute neuroretinitis. The objective was determine the presence of Ancylostoma spp in sand of beaches of Elota municipality of Sinaloa, México. Methods: The composite samples of sand of three beaches, were determined for representative samples described by the technique of Thrusfield (2005) was used: n = [t*SD/L]2. Where n = sample size, t = value of the normal distribution (Student t) for a 95% confidence level (t = 1.96), L=accepted error or precision (5%), and SD=weighted disease prevalence (%); the total of composite sample of sand determined by the double W samplings was 225, took surface moist sand scraping of 100 grams of sand for each sample and deposited it in plastic bags; transferred to the laboratory of parasitology of the FMVZ-UAS to be analyzed by the sedimentation technique. Results: 45 (20%) of the 225 composite samples of sand and in two of the three beaches were positive to Ancylostoma spp. Conclusion: The contamination with Ancylostoma spp. represent risk for the pets and public health, yet residents as visitors ignore about parasitic diseases that dogs can transmit them it is necessary implement control strategies and education for the prevention of the infections. Abstracts for SupplementInternational Journal of Infectious DiseasesVol. 14Preview Full-Text PDF Open Archive