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First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe

Toxocara canis and T. cati are zoonotic roundworm parasites of dogs, cats and foxes. These definitive hosts pass eggs in their faeces, which contaminate the environment and can subsequently be ingested via soil or contaminated vegetables. In humans, infection with Toxocara can have serious health im...

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Autores principales: Healy, Sara R., Morgan, Eric R., Prada, Joaquin M., Betson, Martha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9061247/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35518124
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fawpar.2022.e00158
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author Healy, Sara R.
Morgan, Eric R.
Prada, Joaquin M.
Betson, Martha
author_facet Healy, Sara R.
Morgan, Eric R.
Prada, Joaquin M.
Betson, Martha
author_sort Healy, Sara R.
collection PubMed
description Toxocara canis and T. cati are zoonotic roundworm parasites of dogs, cats and foxes. These definitive hosts pass eggs in their faeces, which contaminate the environment and can subsequently be ingested via soil or contaminated vegetables. In humans, infection with Toxocara can have serious health implications. This proof-of-concept study aimed to investigate the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on ‘ready-to-eat’ vegetables (lettuce, spinach, spring onion and celery) sampled from community gardens in southern England. The contamination of vegetables with Toxocara eggs has never been investigated in the UK before, and more widely, this is the first time vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe have been assessed for Toxocara egg contamination. Sixteen community gardens participated in the study, providing 82 vegetable samples fit for analysis. Study participants also completed an anonymous questionnaire on observed visits to the sites by definitive hosts of Toxocara. Comparison of egg recovery methods was performed using lettuce samples spiked with a series of Toxocara spp. egg concentrations, with sedimentation and centrifugal concentration retrieving the highest number of eggs. A sample (100 g) of each vegetable type obtained from participating community gardens was tested for the presence of Toxocara eggs using the optimised method. Two lettuce samples tested positive for Toxocara spp. eggs, giving a prevalence of 2.4% (95% CI =1.3–3.5%) for vegetable samples overall, and 6.5% (95% CI = 4.7–8.3%; n = 31) specifically for lettuce. Questionnaire data revealed that foxes, cats and dogs frequently visited the community gardens in the study, with 88% (68/77) of respondents reporting seeing a definitive host species or the faeces of a definitive host at their site. This proof-of-concept study showed for the first time the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in the UK, as well as within the soil where these vegetables originated, and highlights biosecurity and zoonotic risks in community gardens. This study establishes a method for assessment of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetable produce and paves the way for larger-scale investigations of Toxocara spp. egg contamination on field-grown vegetables.
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spelling pubmed-90612472022-05-04 First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe Healy, Sara R. Morgan, Eric R. Prada, Joaquin M. Betson, Martha Food Waterborne Parasitol Short Communication Toxocara canis and T. cati are zoonotic roundworm parasites of dogs, cats and foxes. These definitive hosts pass eggs in their faeces, which contaminate the environment and can subsequently be ingested via soil or contaminated vegetables. In humans, infection with Toxocara can have serious health implications. This proof-of-concept study aimed to investigate the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on ‘ready-to-eat’ vegetables (lettuce, spinach, spring onion and celery) sampled from community gardens in southern England. The contamination of vegetables with Toxocara eggs has never been investigated in the UK before, and more widely, this is the first time vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe have been assessed for Toxocara egg contamination. Sixteen community gardens participated in the study, providing 82 vegetable samples fit for analysis. Study participants also completed an anonymous questionnaire on observed visits to the sites by definitive hosts of Toxocara. Comparison of egg recovery methods was performed using lettuce samples spiked with a series of Toxocara spp. egg concentrations, with sedimentation and centrifugal concentration retrieving the highest number of eggs. A sample (100 g) of each vegetable type obtained from participating community gardens was tested for the presence of Toxocara eggs using the optimised method. Two lettuce samples tested positive for Toxocara spp. eggs, giving a prevalence of 2.4% (95% CI =1.3–3.5%) for vegetable samples overall, and 6.5% (95% CI = 4.7–8.3%; n = 31) specifically for lettuce. Questionnaire data revealed that foxes, cats and dogs frequently visited the community gardens in the study, with 88% (68/77) of respondents reporting seeing a definitive host species or the faeces of a definitive host at their site. This proof-of-concept study showed for the first time the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in the UK, as well as within the soil where these vegetables originated, and highlights biosecurity and zoonotic risks in community gardens. This study establishes a method for assessment of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetable produce and paves the way for larger-scale investigations of Toxocara spp. egg contamination on field-grown vegetables. Elsevier 2022-04-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9061247/ /pubmed/35518124 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fawpar.2022.e00158 Text en © 2022 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Short Communication
Healy, Sara R.
Morgan, Eric R.
Prada, Joaquin M.
Betson, Martha
First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title_full First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title_fullStr First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title_full_unstemmed First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title_short First report demonstrating the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in Europe
title_sort first report demonstrating the presence of toxocara spp. eggs on vegetables grown in community gardens in europe
topic Short Communication
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9061247/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35518124
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fawpar.2022.e00158
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