Toxocara infection is not associated with viral or bacterial central nervous system infection in children

Background: Helminth infections with larvae that migrate through the tissues have been considered risk factors for CNS infections. Objectives: The present work was designed to investigate the prevalence of anti-Toxocara antibodies in the serum and/or in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of children with infectious meningitis or meningoencephalitis and of a control group, without meningitis, admitted at the Children's Hospital NS Gloria, Vitoria, ES, Brazil. Patients and Methods: After adsorption with Ascaris lumbricoides antigen, serum and/or cerebrospinal fluid of 381 inpatients (201 with meningitis and 180 without meningitis) were submitted to an ELISA IgG, for anti-Toxocara antibodies using secretion/excretion antigens of third stage larvae of T canis. Results: No significant differences between the meningitis and the control groups were observed in the frequencies of positive tests for anti-Toxocara antibodies in the serum or CSF (respectively for the meningitis and control group: 33/103 or 32% and 52/152 or 34.2% for the serum, p = 0.821; 48/184 or 26.1% and 23/121 or 19.0% for the CSF; p = 0.196. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that Toxocara infection, evaluated by detection of anti-Toxocara antibodies in serum or CSF, is not associated with viral or bacterial meningitis or meningoencephalitis in children in our country.