The effects of benzimidazoles on the larval stage of Toxocara cati in experimentally infected chickens.

Toxocara cati (T. cati) and Toxocara canis (T. canis), roundworms of cats and dogs, are zoonotic parasites that cause visceral and ocular larval migrans in human beings. Humans and other paratenic hosts are infected by ingesting the infective Toxocara eggs from contaminated soil, unwashed hands, contaminated raw vegetables or ingestion of under-cooked organs and muscle tissues of infected paratenic hosts such as chickens, cattle and sheep. It has been shown that the seroprevalence of toxocariasis in the rural and urban children of southern Iran is high and more than 50% of cats of this area are also infected with T. cati. It is stated that consumption of raw chicken meat resulted in visceral toxocariasis. It is possible that poultry reared outdoors and feeding in open range system, gain Toxocara eggs from soil and or by eating infected earthworms as paratenic host. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of albendazole and febendazole in experimentally infected chickens with eggs of T. cati by histopathological and digestive methods. Pathologic lesions were observed only in the untreated group and larvae were detected in brain of 3 chickens of this group by squash method. No larva was observed at histopathological level in liver, lungs, brain, cardiac and skeletal muscles and other examined organs of either treated or untreated animals. No lesion was seen in other tissues of the infected untreated chickens. Treatment resulted in disappearance of the larvae and disappearance of the gross and histopathologic abnormalities from their organs. No detectable difference was observed in chemosusceptibility of the two drugs.