Serological Evaluation of Human Toxocariasis in Patients With Hypereosinophilia Referred to Tabriz Hospitals in Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Toxocariasis is a parasitic infection that causes eosinophilia in humans. Infection in humans is created by swallowing parasite eggs through contaminated soil or hands. Then, the larvae exit from eggs in the small intestine and enter the bloodstream through the perforation of the intestine, and from there, they migrate to all various organs, leading to the creation of visceral larva migrans syndrome and ocular larva migrans syndrome. Methods: In this case study, a prospective study was performed on 100 patients who referred to these centers from February 2017 to January 2018 in different hospitals in Tabriz, in Iran. After the diagnosis of 50 hypereosinophilic patients (more than 10% eosinophilia) without a history of allergic disease as a case group and 50 patients without eosinophilia as a control group, we collected blood samples from these individuals and isolated their serum or plasma. Then, anti-Toxocara antibodies were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method in these patients. The data were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The prevalence of anti-Toxocara antibodies was observed in 20% (10 patients) and 2% (1 patient) of hyperosinophils and controls, respectively. The mean age of the case and control groups was 22–75 years and 17–79 years, respectively, and 57% and 43% of the subjects were males and females. Conclusion: Seroepidemiological studies in Iran have shown a seroprevalence of the disease between 2% and 25.6%. Due to the fact that toxocariasis is caused by worm larvae, this disease can be diagnosed only by serological methods. Therefore, it is necessary to suspect toxocariasis in people with unspecified hypereosinophilia and perform an immunoserological test by the ELISA method. The findings demonstrated that this infection exists in the city of Tabriz.