Epidemiology of Toxocara spp. in dogs and cats in mainland China, 2000-2019.

Abstract

Toxocariasis is a neglected parasitic zoonosis. Although some studies have reported the Toxocara prevalence in dogs and cats in mainland China, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of these data. Here, we conducted the first systematic review based on relevant literatures published in Web of Science, PubMed and CNKI from January 2000 to July 2019 to assess the prevalence of Toxocara infection in dogs and cats in mainland China. A total of 68 eligible papers were retrieved, including 24,490 dogs and 844 cats, with 17.34% (4246/24,490) Toxocara canis prevalence in dogs and 22.04% (186/844) Toxocara cati prevalence in cats by faecal floatation method. The prevalence and risk factors of T. canis and T. cati infection in different geographical regions, years, breeds, ages and genders were estimated in this review. This review indicates that there was high prevalence of Toxocara infection in dogs and cats in China. This finding calls for measures to reduce the potential risk of Toxocara infection and toxocariasis in humans and animals.