Introduction:

Toxocariasis is a parasitic zoonosis to which, people who live with infected dogs and cats or frequent public environments (parks, gardens, squares) contaminated with Toxocara spp, are exposed.

Objective:

To identify Toxocara spp. eggs in the parkland areas of gated communities of the municipality of Pasto. Materials and Methods: A longitudinal, doubleblind descriptive study was performed; soil samples were taken from 31 real estate units that had parkland areas (5 samples for each area). Samples were processed by Sheather’s technique. Additionally, to characterize the management habits of the pets in the study population, 155 surveys were carried out to the pets’ owners present in the areas where the sampling was performed.

Results:

From the total of 155 samples taken, Toxocara spp. eggs were identified in 19 samples (12.3%). Of the 31 gated communities evaluated, 17 (54.8%) presented Toxocara spp. eggs Other parasite eggs found in the evaluated zones were: Ancylostoma spp. 6.5%, Dipylidium spp. 32.3%, Entamoeba spp. 25.8%, Strongylus spp. 58.1%, Eimeria spp. 12.9%. The results of the survey revealed that 91.6% of the surveyed people that have dogs as pets, 98.7% said that their pet was de-wormed, of which only 18.3% had done this control measure within the last three months. 100% of the respondents do not know about the toxocariasis and its importance in public health.

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