[Toxocara ova in parks and sand-boxes in the city of Utrecht].

An investigation was carried out for the presence of Toxocara spp. eggs in public parks and children's sand-boxes in the city of Utrecht. The pollution of parks with the eggs of the dog's ascarid Toxocara canis is comparable with reports from other European cities. The eggs of Toxocara cati were found in small numbers only. Interestingly there was no difference between parks with or without formal exclusion of dogs. Most sand-boxes are polluted with the eggs of the ascarid of cats T. cati. Incidentally eggs of T. canis were found. Sand-boxes which were obviously kept clean or could be closed contained lower numbers of eggs. As children playing in sand-boxes have far more chances to contaminate themselves with Toxocara eggs than when playing in parks or on playgrounds, the question arises if not T. cati eggs constitute a greater menace, at least in urban areas, to public health than T. canis eggs.