Sandpit Parasites

[Steve G. Kayes]

Peter:
	The main problems facing children and their sandboxes comes from 
dogs and cats who find the sandbox a convenient place to defecacte.  The 
bigger problem is most likely cats. They can leave oocyts of _Toxoplasma 
gondii_, and eggs of _Toxocara cati_ and all the cat tapeworms.  Dogs 
will leave hookworm eggs (causing cutaneous larva migrans), _Toxocara 
canis_ eggs (causing visceral larva migrans), and possibly 
_Strongyloides_ larvae.  Thus, it is best to keep all pets away from the 
sandbox because the toddler aged child who would typically play in a 
sandbox is also likely to transmit these hand-to-mouth adapted organisms.

Best Wishes for the project.

	Steve Kayes 

On 27 Apr 1995 DARBEN at redash.qut.edu.au wrote:

> 
> Sometime last year, a person wrote to this group requesting info on 
> parasites from children's sandpits. Having conveniently forgotten any 
> subsequent discussion, I am now confronted with helping a student who is 
> undertaking such a project. The project is for a public health course and so is 
> relatively simple, with a strong public education bias. I can help her 
> with basic parasitology - identification, concentration techniques, 
> literature searches, etc, but I would greatly appreciate any advice 
> anyone could give me - no piece of info too small or trivial
> 
> Thanks to all who can help
> 
> Peter Darben
> School of Life Science
> Queensland University of Technology
> Brisbane, Oz.
> 
> "Still making the world safe from pigworms"
> 
>