Toxocardia, innercity children at risk other roundworms

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Mike Bartolatz
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Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:58 pm

Toxocardia, innercity children at risk other roundworms

Post by Mike Bartolatz »

http://search.medscape.com/medscape-sea ... t=toxocara

Toxocardia is caused by dog and cat fecal contamination of soil in inner city playgrounds and there is currently an near epidemic of this. toxocardia can BLIND a person if it gets into the eye where it can cause uveitis and other problems. other bodily systems can be attacked as well. it is most often caused by ingestion of animal fecal matter (playing and then putting dirty hands to the mouth or toys etc)
other parasites that also cause roundworms are approaching epidemic proportions in the USA as well and can cause seizures and uveitis as well.

So if you know someone in the innercity near you, please pass this information on so they can get treatment should one of their children contract this. Adults can also be infected so hand washing is very important when playing in an innercity park or playground. always pack some hand sanitizer before giving the little ones snacks for example and emphasize the need to keep their hands out of their mouths when at the playgrounds.

other animals can become infected with toxocara as well and accidental injestion of the parasite can occur through their fecal matter as well. this isn't just an inner city problem as farm animals can become infected too.

causes of pediatric uveitis:
http://www.uveitis.org/medical/articles ... ricuv.html
this article indicates the most common causes of pediatric uveitis which includes toxocara infection causing toxocardia and toxocariasis. both terms are used in this article.

Wish all the very best,
Mike
Mike Bartolatz
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Mike Bartolatz
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Re: Toxocardia, innercity children at risk other roundworms

Post by Mike Bartolatz »

Mike Bartolatz
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TammyT

Re: Toxocardia, innercity children at risk other roundworms

Post by TammyT »

I never really thought about getting toxocardia from playing on a playground. Is there anything that cities can spray on the playgrounds that would kill the bacteria? If there was some non-toxic and environmentally-safe spray that could be sprayed over the playground once a week, that may help reduce the infections. I'll have to get some antibacterial hand sanitizer with my health savings account and have my kids use it after playing on the playgrounds.
Last edited by TammyT on Thu Nov 03, 2011 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Mike Bartolatz
Posts: 6595
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:58 pm

Re: Toxocardia, innercity children at risk other roundworms

Post by Mike Bartolatz »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxocariasis

it wish it were that simple. this is a difficult problem to resolve/ please read this article and it will explain the difficulty in irradicating toxocara eggs.

take care,
mike
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