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Efficacy of a chlorocresol-based disinfectant product on Toxocara canis eggs

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Abstract

Toxocara canis is a common parasite of dogs and can cause zoonotic toxocariasis in humans. As a part of control programs for this agent, optimized hygiene including chemical disinfection is considered essential in the prevention and control of zoonotic toxocariasis in humans. However, commonly used disinfectants at present mostly fail to inhibit the embryogenesis and viability of T. canis eggs. To this effect, the present study was designed to evaluate the effect of a chlorocresol-based disinfectant product Neopredisan®135-1 (NP) on embryonic development of T. canis eggs in vitro and to investigate the infectivity of exposed eggs by assessing larval establishment in a mouse model. Under in vitro conditions, NP at a final concentration of 0.25, 0.50, 1, 2, or 4% all exhibited significant killing effect on T. canis embryogenesis compared with the control eggs (P < 0.05), regardless of contact times (30, 60, 90, or 120 min). Such killing activity increased in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, with a maximum killing efficacy of 95.81% at 4% concentration and 120 min exposure time. Comparisons between low and high concentrations and between short and long contact times concluded that a protocol using the 1% concentration of NP with a 90-min contact could be the most suitable for practical application. Additionally, the lower larval recovery in mice inoculated with eggs treated by either 0.25 or 0.5% NP than that from their corresponding controls (P < 0.05) verified once again that NP had an adverse impact on the larval development of T. canis eggs even at a low concentration. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report the effect of the chlorocresol-based disinfectant NP on the embryonation and larval development of T. canis eggs, and the results presented here would contribute to environmental clearance and control of toxocariasis by providing an alternative disinfectant resource. However, it is highlighted that the clearance of the novel and existing sources of infection including larvated eggs in places treated with NP is not guaranteed and therefore continuous monitoring and additional disinfection are still required.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mr. Fujie Sun and Mrs. Luxi Huang at Sichuan Agricultural University for their assistance in collecting parasite materials; Dr. Joseph Urban at USDA-ARS, Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, Diet, Genomics and Immunology Laboratory for manuscript review and advice.

Funding

This work was funded by the Sichuan International Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation/Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Project, Sichuan, China (grant no. 2019YFH0065), Key Open Laboratory of Conservation Biology of Rare Animals in Giant Panda National Park, State Forestry and Grassland Administration (no. KLSFGAGP2020.014), and the High-level Scientific Research Foundation for the Introduction of Talents of Sichuan Agricultural University (no. 03120322).

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Authors

Contributions

YX and GYY conceived and designed the experiments. SZZ, CA, and XBG performed the experiments. SZZ, CA, XBG, YJL, and LW achieved the data analysis. YXL, XZ, RH, and PXR contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools. YX, SZZ, CA, and GYY wrote the initial manuscript. All the authors critically revised and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guangyou Yang or Yue Xie.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Sichuan Agricultural University (Sichuan, China; approval no. SYXK 2014-187), and all procedures involving animals in the present study were in strict accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Research Council, Bethesda, MD, USA) and the recommendations in the ARRIVE guidelines (https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines).

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Section Editor: David S. Lindsay

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Zhang, S., Angel, C., Gu, X. et al. Efficacy of a chlorocresol-based disinfectant product on Toxocara canis eggs. Parasitol Res 119, 3369–3376 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06769-2

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