[No effects of the educational campaign among family physicians on Toxocara infections in humans].
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect on general practitioners of an educational campaign about Toxocara and toxocariasis in man.


METHODS
Descriptive.


METHODS
General practices in the Netherlands.


METHODS
Telephone interviews of two groups of general practitioners before (n = 135) and 6 months after (n = 105) an educational campaign in 1993.


RESULTS
No significant difference in knowledge concerning Toxocara and toxocariasis was observed in the two interviews. From the general practitioners interviewed, 44% considered Toxocara infections a zoonosis and 13-15% knew that 90-100% of puppies are infected. The clinical symptoms that were mentioned, agreed very little with the actual symptoms of toxocariasis.


CONCLUSIONS
The knowledge of this important zoonosis was in general inadequate and the campaign to improve the awareness failed.
Overgaauw
P A
PA
Universiteit Utrecht, Faculteit Diergeneeskunde, vakgroep Voedings-middelen van Dierlijke Oorsprong.
van Knapen
F
F
D000818:Animals; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D002415:Cats; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014120:Toxocariasis / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000469:parasitology