Contamination of the soil by eggs of geohelminths in rural areas of Lodz district (Poland)

Contamination of soil with helminth eggs in the samples of fields, kitchen gardens, yards and composts in rural areas of Lodz district (Poland) was investigated. In this study, helminth eggs were found in 60–100 % of field samples, in 20–100 % of yards samples, in 0–20 % of kitchen gardens samples and in 10–100 % of composts. The highest average density of helminth eggs in 100 g of soil was detected in composts (44.0), then fields (28.5) and yards (18.0). In samples taken from kitchen gardens the average density of eggs was 0.4/100/g of soil. The comparison of frequency of positive samples from fields, kitchen gardens and yards did not exhibit significant difference (p > 0.05). The soil samples of fields contained mainly eggs of Ascaris spp. (87.7 %), less frequently Toxocara spp. (7.7 %) and Trichuris spp. (3.5 %). In samples from yards among detected eggs the most often were Toxocara spp. (73.9 %), and there were statistically significant differences in comparison with fields (7.7 %) and composts (0.3 %). The highest prevalence of eggs with moving larva was noted in yards (25.6 %), which differ statistically significantly from analogous value for fields (p < 0.05) and composts (p < 0.0001).

These results showed a considerable infestation of soil with geohelminth eggs of the examined rural areas of Lodz district which is a potential source of antropozoonosis.