Toxocara cati infection in cats in Tehran and their importance in medicine

Toxocara cati is the cause of a helminthic zoonosis. It is one of the agents that causes visceral larva migrans in humans. So, infected cats are a high risk of infection for people. Obtaining accurate information about Toxocara infection in cats could be helpful in control and prevention of it in people. Because of the high number of cats in Iran and their constant contact with humans, we undertook the current study to determine the frequency of Toxocara in cats. 138 Samples were collected from different parts of Tehran city and the fecal samples were examined by the formol-ether concentration technique. 13 samples (9.4%) of 138 samples contained Toxocara eggs.