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Article: Risk of toxocariasis simply from handling pet dogs. (News: clinical digest: a weekly round-up of the latest research and scientific reports from the nursing and medical journals).(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Nursing Standard
- Article date:
- June 18, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Royal College of Nursing Publishing Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Simply stroking your pet dog might put you at risk of becoming infected with Toxocara canis, researchers from Somerset warn.
Toxocara canis, a nematode worm, can grow to a length of up to 10cm in the colons of dogs. If transferred to humans, they can cause organ damage and even blindness. Previously dog faeces were thought to be the only route of infection.
The researchers examined 60 dogs and found eggs of the worm in the hair of a quarter of them. Three of the 71 eggs they discovered contained mature worm embryos, which can infect people, and embryos had begun ...