Toxocara Infection is not Associated with Viral or Bacterial Central Nervous System Infection in Children

Abstract

Background: Helminth infections with larvae that migrate through the tissues have been considered risk factors for CNS infections. Objectives: The present work was designed to investigate the prevalence of anti-Toxocara antibodies in the serum and/or in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of children with infectious meningitis or meningoencephalitis and of a control group, without meningitis, admitted at the Children's Hospital NS Glória, Vitória, ES, Brazil. Patients and Methods: After adsorption with Ascaris lumbricoides antigen, serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid of 381 inpatients (201 with meningitis and 180 without meningitis) were submitted to an ELISA IgG, for anti-Toxocara antibodies using secretion/excretion antigens of third stage larvae of T. canis. Results: No significant differences between the meningitis and the control groups were observed in the frequencies of positive tests for anti-Toxocara antibodies in the serum or CSF (respectively for the meningitis and control group: 33/103 or 32 % and 52/152 or 34.2 % for the serum, p = 0.821; 48/184 or 26.1 % and 23/121 or 19.0 % for the CSF; p = 0.196. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that Toxocara infection, evaluated by detection of anti-Toxocara antibodies in serum or CSF, is not associated with viral or bacterial meningitis or meningoencephalitis in children in our country.

Key words

Visceral larva migrans - meningitis - toxocariasis - toxocara infection - meningoencephalitis

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