Presence of Toxocara Eggs on the Hairs of Dogs from Southwest Nigeria

The close contact between dogs and humans poses a high risk of exposure to Toxocara canis eggs which can lead to Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM) syndrome. The aim of the study was to assess whether the hair of domestic dog in Nigeria was contaminated with eggs of T. canis, a zoonotic parasite. Samples of hair from 267 dogs of different ages comprising local and exotic breeds were collected from the neck, back and anal regions between April 2015 and February 2016 at Ile –Ife and Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. Eggs were recovered from the hair using a previously standardised detection method. Eggs were found on the hair of 48 (18.0%) dogs. A total of 188 T. canis eggs were recovered from the hair of infected dogs. None of the eggs found were embryonated. 62.5% of the infected were under one year of age. As no domestic dogs which were positive from hair samples had negative faecal samples, this indicates that the presence of T. canis eggs in hair is probably due to self-contamination. As T. canis eggs were found on the hair of domestic dogs, direct contact with dogs may be a potential risk factor for transmission of T. canis eggs to humans.