Contamination of children's playground sandpits, with Toxocara eggs in Istanbul, Turkey

Abstract

In this study conducted in Istanbul, the contamination of sandpits in children's playgrounds with Toxocara eggs was investigated. For this purpose, a total of 132 sand samples were taken from, the sandpits of 63 playgrounds between November 1998 and September 1999. Toxocara eggs were found in 10 (15.9%) of 63 playgrounds. A total of 22 eggs were recovered. The average egg number per 100 g of sand was found to be 0.067 for the overall examined playgrounds and 0.44 (ranging from 0.2 to 1.2) for the contaminated ones.