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Toxocara eggs however, are not simply soil organisms;
they are put there by canines. Dog enthusiasts insist that
the ubiquity of infestation indicates that the risk to an
individual of contracting toxocariasis becomes no greater
on acquiring a dog. This may be true for most dog ownership
situations. It is consistent with the practice of owners taking
their dogs away from home to defaecate, thus distancing themselves
physically from the excrement, but spreading the risk to others.
Also, because at the time of excretion, the eggs are not immediately
infective and coupled with their hardness and ability to remain
viable for two years, or more, it is impossible to identify
the dog responsible in any case of human infection.
It has been found that Toxocara eggs survive human
sewage systems and find their way onto agricultural land in
sludge used as fertiliser (Arther et al 1981).
Not surprisingly though, those involved with dogs on some
scale, do seem to be more at risk - puppy breeders for example.
At the age of two months, the faeces of an infected puppy
can contain 15,000 eggs per gram.
It is an inescapable conclusion from the WHO circular that
the immune systems of nearly four in a hundred Italian adults
have been challenged by Toxocara larvae getting into
their blood circulations and that this has come about by people
allowing dogs one way or another to pollute the environment
with Toxocara eggs. If the higher rates of toxocaral
infestations in young people universally observed applies
to Italy also, then an even greater proportion of those adults
will have exhibited Toxocara antibodies at some time
during their youth, thus having been at risk of larvae developing
to cause damage in their bodies.
The question remains;
WHEN WILL THE BRITISH AUTHORITIES ACT IN THIS MATTER?
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