'People should be aware': eggs of tiny infectious worm found in parks in New York and Europe

[marmar]

(Guardian UK) Scattered in cat sandboxes and dog runs around the world, there’s a parasite invisible to the naked eye that mostly infects these creatures. It’s a tiny worm that lives in the animals’ muscles and digestive systems, but can spread to others.

Sometimes, though, it infects humans. Increasingly researchers are concerned that children are inadvertently consuming these parasites, known as Toxocara, and so they are studying places where humans and pets come into contact with one another: city parks.

In New York City, one of the locations of the studies performed in recent years, these parasites are present in parks in all five boroughs, and there are more of them in parks in more impoverished neighborhoods. Around the world other researchers are also finding Toxocara in parks.

The presence of Toxocara is not necessarily a cause for alarm, the researchers say. It’s not that easy for humans to become infected – they must literally consume infected dirt. But this means children are at a higher risk. Even so, the scientists say, most infections are asymptomatic, though sometimes symptoms may include fever, fatigue, coughing, rash, or abdominal pain. In very rare cases, the parasite can reach the eye, causing blindness, and cause neurological damage in the brain. ..............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/30/toxocara-parasite-poorer-areas-parks-study-new-york

[msongs]

1. so dog owners use public spaces as their personal crapper and spread worms. not a shock nt