Seroprevalence of Toxocara canis infection in tropical Venezuela

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the seroprevalence of Toxocara canis infection in different socio-economic groups of the tropical population of Venezuela. The lack of definitive independent diagnostic criteria for toxocariasis required the establishment of operational upper limits of normality for Toxocara ELISA values, based upon their log-normalized distribution in a presumptive "non-toxocariasis" sub-population. Only 1.8% of urban subjects of medium-high socio-economic level were considered to be clearly positive in Toxocara ELISA, compared to 20.0% of urban slum dwellers, 25.6% rural subsistence farmers and 34.9% Amazon Indians. As the test was performed using excretory-secretory antigen, and under conditions of competitive inhibition by soluble extracts of non-homologous parasites, co-infection by common intestinal helminths, protozoa or other organisms did not give rise to false positive results. However, strong cross-reactivity with Onchocerca volvulus may have influenced the prevalence figure obtained for the Amazon Indians. These results indicate that T. canis is yet another parasite that is widely distributed in economically underprivileged tropical populations.