In a transversal study on a sample of 386 children and adolescents from an outpatient clinic for
filariasis in Recife, Northeast Brazil, the frequency of anti-Toxocara
antibodies and its relation to age, gender, number of peripheral eosinophils, Wuchereria bancrofti microfilariae and intestinal helminths was determined. The total anti-Toxocara
IgG antibody frequency was 39.4%, by ELISA technique. The difference in frequency between males (40.1%) and females (37.6%) was not statistically significant. The 6 to 10-year-old subset presented the highest frequency of anti-Toxocara
antibodies (60%), and within this age group there was a statistically significant male bias. There was also a significant association between the number of eosinophils and the presence of anti-Toxocara
antibodies. Intestinal parasite frequency was 52.1%, but no association was found between this data and the presence of anti-Toxocara
antibodies. In the present sample, 42.2% of the patients were Wuchereria bancrofti carriers, however, again this was not associated with the presence of anti-Toxocara
antibodies. In conclusion, anti-Toxocara
antibodies were highly prevalent in this sample. The present data show that there is no cross correlation between anti-Toxocara
IgG antibody and the presence of intestinal helminths and
filariasis.