Prevalence and survival of Toxocara canis eggs in the urban environment of Perth, Australia.

Using a technique of proven efficiency no Toxocara canis eggs were recovered from a total of 266 sand samples collected from "dog beaches" and parks in the Perth urban area. This observation emphasises that the major risk to humans is from an environment in which puppies are found. Other observations, made at a heavily contaminated site, showed that the eggs of T. canis disappeared from sandy soil over about 6 months during a period in which it would have been expected that conditions were favourable for egg survival. Other data are also presented indicating that the prevalence of T. canis in adult dogs in Perth is quite low. However, T. canis eggs were recovered in large numbers from the majority of soil samples collected from Perth dog-breeding establishments.