Zoonotic Implication of Geohelminths in Soil: A Special Emphasis on Molecular Occurrence of Hookworm in Urban Community

Background: Soil transmitted helminth (STH) infections is the most predominant hookworm infection in humans, especially in developing countries with low socio-economic status with conducive environmental factors. Eggs of STH that are shed in the feces can eventually contaminate the ground, and people become infected with hookworm infective larvae while walking barefoot on contaminated soil. Objectives: The present study aimed to identify the zoonotic implications of canine gastrointestinal parasitic stages occurring in the soil in high human and animal activity zones of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Materials and Methods: Microscopic examination of 242 soil samples collected from various ecological risk-prone areas of STH in Chennai using the flotation technique with saturated sodium nitrate solution. The species of hookworm was identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region-specific primers through polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Results: Microscopic analysis revealed Toxocara sp. was the most prevalent (10.74%), followed by hookworm (6.19%) and lowest of Taenia sp. (1.24%). Playgrounds showed very high geohelminth contamination (94.12 %), especially with Toxocara sp. (41.18 %), followed by hookworms (6.19 %). Nevertheless, public parks showed the lowest rate of geohelminth contamination (13.3 %). The ITS-region-specific molecular technique revealed 93.33% positivity for mono-specific Ancylostoma caninum . Conclusion: This study highlighted the playgrounds as an ideal hotspot for most of the zoonotic geohelminths, indicating the prevailing poor sanitary conditions and lack of stringent control measures on canine zoonotic parasitic infections.