Journal of Bacteriology & Parasitology

Toxocara infection in multiple sclerosis patients in Shahrekord district (2015-2016)

6^th Annual Bacteriology and Parasitology Meeting

September 13-14, 2017 Singapore

Bahman Khalilidehkordi, Ali Nickhah, Fouruzan Ganji and Nahid Jivad

Shahrekord University, Iran

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Bacteriol Parasitol

Abstract:

Background & Aims: Toxocariasis is an infection caused by ingestion of larvae of the dog roundworm Toxocara canis or the cat roundworm Toxocara cati. The disease is one of the zoonotic parasitic diseases with worldwide distribution. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an auto-immune disease with unknown etiology. Whereas, Shahrekord is located on husbandry region and the relationship between infectious diseases such as toxocariasis is proposed and this study was done to detect a possible relationship between the disease and Toxocara infection. Methods: This case control study was done from September 2015 to May 2016. A total of 70 serum samples of patients with MS which were diagnosed by Macdonald criteria as cases and 70 serums from apparently healthy blood donor as controls were obtained. Samples were examined to detect Toxocara IgG antibodies by ELISA method. The data were analyzed using Chi â?? square and Fisher exact test by SPSS ver. 16 software. Results: Out of 70 samples for each case and control group, 8 cases (11.5%) and 1 control (1%) were positive for toxocariasis and had IgG antibodies against Toxocara infection and shows a significant relationship between MS and toxocariasis (p<0.05). However, there was no relationship between toxocariasis and age, sex, job, education and place of living. Conclusion: This study showed that there was a significant association between Toxocara seropositivy and multiple sclerosis, however due to small sample size there is a need of a comprehensive and multicenter study to confirm our results. This finding suggests that Toxocara infection may increase the risk of multiple sclerosis.