of animals like mice or rabbits, where they stay in a dormant stage inside the animals' tissue until the intermediate host has been eaten by a dog, where subsequent development is confined to the gastrointestinal tract. Transmission to humans Consumption of eggs from feces-contaminated items is the most common method of infection for humans especially children and young adults under the age of 20 years. Although rare, being in contact with soil that contains infectious eggs can also cause human infection, especially handling soil with an open wound or accidentally swallowing contaminated soil, as well as eating undercooked or raw meat of an intermediate host of the parasite such as lamb or rabbit. Humans can be infected by this roundworm, a condition called toxocariasis, just by stroking an infected dog's fur and accidentally ingesting infective eggs that may be present on the dog's fur. When humans ingest infective eggs, diseases like hepatomegaly, myocarditis, respiratory failure and vision problems can result depending on where the larvae are deposited in the body. In humans, this parasite usually grows in the back of the eye, which can result in blindness, or in the liver or lungs. However, a 2004 study showed, of 15 infected dogs, only seven had eggs in their coats, and no more than one egg was found on each dog. Furthermore, only 4% of those eggs were infectious. Given the low concentration of fertile eggs on infected dogs' coats (less than 0.00186% per gram), it is plausible that such eggs were transferred to the dog's coat by contact with fecal deposits in the environment, making dog coats the passive transport host vehicle. However, although the risk of being infected by petting a dog is extremely limited, a single infected puppy can produce more than 100,000 roundworm eggs per gram of feces. Treatment Humans suffering from visceral infection of T. canis, the drugs albendazole (preferred), mebendazole and thiabendazole are highly effective. For other treatments, refer to the disease pages: visceralis larva migrans and ocularis larva migrans. Anthelminthic drugs are used to treat infections in dogs and puppies for adult worms. Treatment protocol will vary based on the dog's age, production level and activity level. There are different treatment paths for puppies, pregnant bitches, lactating bitches, dogs with increased risk of infection, professional dogs, and dogs sharing homes with young children or immunocompromised individuals. Puppies: from the age of two weeks, then