Visceral larva migrans in mice caused by eating Toxocara canis-infected chick livers

Abstract

In this study, two subjects, 1) whether Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM) takes place when T. canis larvae-infected chick livers are eaten and 2) whether any differences are present between larval distributions, clinical signs and pathological disorders of the infections caused by eggs and infected liver, were investigated in the:chick-mouse model. For this purpose, 15-day-old broiler chicks (n=42) and 3-month-old albino mice (n=62) were used. Thirty chicks were each infected orally with 5000 infective T.canis eggs. These chicks. composed of 6 groups, were necropsied at 2-day intervals and their livers were fed to 42 mice in 6 experimental groups. In another group, experimental mice were inoculated with 1250 (2 mice), 2500 (2 mice) and 5000 (2 mice) infective eggs of T. canis. Two non-infected mice for each experimental group were kept as control. All mice were necropsied on day 6 and they were examined for T.canis larvae. The control mice presented neither behavioral disorders nor pathological changes and presented no larvae. Nine experimental mice died before the necropsy day. Toxocara canis-larvae were recovered from all experimental mice except one because this mouse was completely eaten by other mice. It was observed that the mice fed on infected liver were more affected by infection than those inoculated with the eggs. It is concluded that the consumption of T. canis infected raw poultry liver leads to toxocariosis in people.