Contamination of soil with eggs of geohelminths in recreational areas in the Lublin region of Poland.

Recreational areas cover parks, bicycle paths, lawns, urban squares, sports complexes, holiday camp areas, playgrounds for children, beaches, and even spontaneously used green field open spaces. While using recreational areas, people take with them accompanying animals (dogs, cats). These animals constitute the main source and reservoir of many dangerous zoonoses, including parasitoses caused by roundworms of the genus Toxocara and Trichuris. The objective of the presented study was determination of the level of contamination of soil with parasites' developmental forms (eggs of Toxocara spp., Ascaris spp., Trichuris spp and Ancylostoma) in selected recreational areas in the Lublin Region of southeastern Poland. The material for the study was collected from beaches in recreational areas located around the Białe Lake near Włodawa, the water reservoirs in Krasnobród and Janów Lubelski. The studies were carried out from May-October 2010 durng which time a total number of 215 samples of sand were collected. Eggs of Ascaris spp. and Trichuris spp. were detected based on the Polish Standard PN-Z-19000-4/2001. Beaches on the Białe Lake were the most contaminated. The eggs of intestinal parasites were isolated from 6 per 15 samples examined, which is 40%. In one sample, the presence of the eggs of 3 types of parasites were observed, while the eggs of Ancylostoma were not found in any of the samples. Attention should also be paid to the possibility of contamination of recreational areas with the eggs of intestinal parasites by wild animals. Recently in Poland, as well as in many other European countries, the phenomenon of synantropization of wild living animals has been observed, which most frequently concerned wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red fox (Vulpes vulpes).