Parasite risks lurk in children's sandboxes
Pastor Dale Morgan
Parasite risks lurk in children's sandboxes*
Updated Tue. Jun. 10 2008 1:12 PM ET
The Canadian Press
TORONTO -- What little kid can resist the appeal of a sandbox, where a
shovel, a bucket and an imagination give rise to all manner of make-believe?
The problem is, what looks like a perfect play environment for a young
child looks like a toilet to some members of the animal kingdom. Cats,
dogs, occasionally even raccoons can treat sandboxes as their very own
porta-potty.
If they do, children can end up encountering some pretty unpleasant
parasites in a sandbox. And while those parasites are likely rare in a
climate like ours - where the annual winter freeze plays a useful role
in keeping populations down - simple steps can make them rarer still,
experts insist.
"There's certainly no indication that children should not go into
sandboxes. These are extremely rare diseases that affect a very, very
small number of people in North America every year," says Dr. Scott
Weese, a veterinarian and expert in the diseases - called zoonoses -
that animals and people can pass to one another.
"But it's the type of thing that even if it's very rare, (if) we can
reduce it further, why wouldn't we?"
Kids at the earliest stage of sandbox play are also those going through
the phase of childhood where everything, it seems, ends up in the mouth.
If the sand in a sandbox contains animal feces, children could end up
inadvertently ingesting eggs of the various types of hookworms that can
infect cats, dogs or even raccoons.
"So the concern is a raccoon or a cat or whatever uses the sandbox as a
litter box and then while the child's playing it ingests... Parasite
eggs are the main concern. And some of those can be pretty nasty," says
Weese, a professor and researcher at the Ontario Veterinary College at
the University of Guelph.
In some cases, the hookworms will penetrate the skin, causing a
condition called cutaneous larva migrans. In 2006 a summer camp in
Florida reported an outbreak of cutaneous larva migrans involving 18
campers and four staff members. Cat feces in a sandbox was thought to be
the source of the infection.
Cats pose the greatest risk of sandbox contamination, says Dr. Andrew
Peregrine, a veterinarian specializing in parasites who also teaches at
the Ontario Veterinary College.
That's because of the animals of concern, felines are most likely to use
a sandbox as a litter box. And because cats bury their feces, it
wouldn't be immediately evident a sandbox might contain more than just
sand. As time passes, animal stools will break up, making feces even
harder to spot.
"It's thought that about 90 per cent of all the pooping that occurs in
sandboxes by cats occurs at night. So a lot of people probably don't
know it's happening," Peregrine says.
Dogs would less commonly use a sandbox as a place to poo, but if they
did, they wouldn't bother burying it.
Raccoons like to relieve themselves in elevated areas - the crook of a
tree, on a deck or into a window well. They tend to repeatedly use an
area, creating what biologists call "latrines" or "scats." Raccoons
generally wouldn't use a sandbox as a scat, though it's not unknown.
And given that about a third of raccoons are believed to be infected
with Baylisascaris - the parasites that cause the raccoon form of
hookworms - children should be kept clear of raccoon feces.
"It can be a very serious disease, a devastating disease, if someone
does get it," Weese says, adding that neurological damage is common in
survivors.
Peregrine notes a Toronto child developed severe encephalitis -
inflammation of the brain - caused by baylisascariasis (the disease
triggered by baylisascaris) a couple of years ago. The child had eaten
dirt contaminated with raccoon droppings.
Eliminating the risk a sandbox will turn into a litter box is pretty
simple, experts say.
"Covering the sandbox is the biggest thing. Easiest thing to do. If the
cat can't climb in it, it's not going to contaminate it - full stop,"
says Weese.
Commercially available sandboxes come these days with a fitted cover.
Keep the cover on when the kids aren't in it. For homemade sandboxes, a
piece of plywood weighed down by a rock works just fine. "All you have
to do is keep the animals out. It doesn't have to look pretty," Weese says.
Covering the sandbox also minimizes the risk that pools of water that
could form after a rain could serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes,
other biting bugs or moulds.
"We're trying to make the environment inhospitable to everything but a
kid, basically," Weese says.
Kids shouldn't eat or drink while in a sandbox and should wash their
hands as soon as play is done.
Changing the sand from time to time probably also makes sense -
especially if the lid has been left off and there are telltale signs an
animal has paid a visit.
"If you see one piece of poop, there might be five others that are
buried and smashed up you're never going to find. So if there's obvious
contamination I think that would be a good time to change it," Weese says.
While it's important to keep a sandbox free of contaminants, it's also
important to remember sandbox play is terrific for young children, says
Dr. Perry Sheffield, a pediatrician and research fellow with the
Children's Environment Health Center at New York's Mount Sinai School of
Medicine.
"I think it's worth acknowledging the potential for creative
development, the chance for a child to have control over their
environment in terms of the make believe and the power of that," she says.
"As a pediatrician who thinks that enriching environments are important,
if you can create a safe sandbox then it's a wonderful place to play."