Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo (Feb 2015)

ELEVATED TRANS-MAMMARY TRANSMISSION OF Toxocara canis LARVAE IN BALB/c MICE

  • Paula de Lima Telmo,
  • Luciana Farias da Costa de Avila,
  • Cristina Araújo dos Santos,
  • Patrícia de Souza de Aguiar,
  • Lourdes Helena Rodrigues Martins,
  • Maria Elisabeth Aires Berne,
  • Carlos James Scaini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0036-46652015000100013
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 57, no. 1
pp. 85 – 87

Abstract

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Toxocariasis is a widespread zoonosis and is considered an important worldwide public health problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of trans-mammary Toxocara canis infection in newborn BALB/c mice nursed by females experimentally infected with 1,200 eggs after delivery. After 50 days of age, the presence of larvae in different organs of the offspring was investigated. Trans-mammary infection was confirmed in 73.9% of the mice that had been nursed by infected females. These data show a high trans-mammary transmission of T. canis and confirm the significance of this transmission route in paratenic hosts.

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