[Assessment of an educational campaign by practicing veterinarians in The Netherlands on human and animal Toxocara infections]

Abstract

In 1993 the Dutch Ministry of Public Health initiated a campaign about Toxocara and toxocariasis. Before and after the campaign, 200 and 105 veterinarians, respectively, were interviewed by telephone to get an impression about awareness of the problem. Before the campaign, 29% and 51% of veterinarians knew when puppies and kittens, respectively should be dewormed for the first time. Fourteen percent of respondents knew the correct anthelmintic dosing interval, and 60% knew the prevalence of T. canis infection in newborn pups. Of the respondent 90% advised, wrongly, anthelmintic treatment during pregnancy and 17% correctly advised post-partum deworming. Seventy-three percent of the respondents correctly estimated the risk of infection of humans with T. cati and T. canis. After the campaign, which was remembered by 99% of the respondents, there was a significant improvement in the number of veterinarians who knew the correct interval for deworming, routine and post-partum deworming, and infection risk for humans. It can be concluded that while this campaign improved knowledge of certain aspects of the zoonosis, in general, knowledge was still inadequate.