Toxocara canis as a cause of chronic urticaria

ABSTRACT

93 patients with idiopathic chronic urticaria and 62 apparently healthy controls were investigated by ELISA for the presence of Toxocara antibodies in their sera as well as for eosinophilic blood count after taking complete history and thorough clinical examination. All were proved to be free of any other parasitic infections. Results showed the presence of Toxocara antibodies in 58.1% of chronic urticaria patients with a highly significant association between the two diseases. Hepatomegaly and eosinophilia were the most related manifestations. Treatment of 10 patients with mebendazole resulted in complete cure of urticaria in 4 patients, improvement in 3 and no benefit in 3