Abstract
BackgroundIn Europe, the life-cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis is predominantly sylvatic, involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts and rodents such as muskrats and arvicolids as intermediate hosts. The parasite is the etiological agent of human alveolar echinococcosis, a malignant zoonotic disease caused by the accidental ingestion of eggs shed by definitive hosts in their faeces. The aims of this study were to investigate the prevalence of E. multilocularis in red foxes and raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) and to study the environmental factors favouring the perpetuation of the parasite in Latvia.MethodsA total of 538 red foxes and 407 raccoon dogs were collected across Latvia from 2010 to 2015. The sedimentation and counting technique was used for collecting E. multilocularis adult worms from fox and raccoon dog intestines. The morphological identification of the parasite was confirmed by molecular analysis.ResultsThe prevalence of E. multilocularis was significantly higher in foxes (17.1%; intensity of infection 1–7,050 worms) (P < 0.001) than in raccoon dogs (8.1%; intensity of infection 5–815 worms). In foxes, a significant positive correlation (r (10) = 0.7952, P = 0.001) was found between parasite prevalence and the intensity of infection. A positive relationship (R s = 0.900, n = 5, P = 0.037) between parasite prevalence and precipitation was also observed. In raccoon dogs, a significant negative relationship (F (1,8) = 9.412, P = 0.015) between animal density and parasite prevalence, and a significant positive relationship (F (1,8) = 7.869, P = 0.023) between parasite prevalence and agricultural land cover, were detected.ConclusionsThe results of this study confirm the red fox as the most important definitive host of E. multilocularis and, consequently, as the main target for control programmes in the Baltic countries. Raccoon dogs seem to play a secondary role in the life-cycle of E. multilocularis within the investigated European region.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1891-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
In Europe, the life-cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis is predominantly sylvatic, involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts and rodents such as muskrats and arvicolids as intermediate hosts
Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a human disease caused by the metacestode stage of Echinococcus multilocularis and is of considerable public health importance in Europe due to the severity of the disease, which leads to death in untreated patients [1, 2]
The aims of the present study were to determine the prevalence of E. multilocularis infection in red foxes and raccoon dogs and to investigate environmental factors associated with the occurrence of the parasite in Latvia
Summary
In Europe, the life-cycle of Echinococcus multilocularis is predominantly sylvatic, involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts and rodents such as muskrats and arvicolids as intermediate hosts. In Europe, E. multilocularis is transmitted predominantly through a wildlife cycle involving primarily the red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as definitive hosts and rodents of the family Arvicolidae as intermediate hosts [5, 6]. Since the 1990s, Bagrade et al Parasites & Vectors (2016) 9:615 broad epidemiological studies showed the endemic area of the parasite to include regions of 17 European countries [7,8,9,10,11] and E. multilocularis has been documented in wildlife from Lithuania [12], Estonia [13] and Latvia [14]. Contamination of the environment with fox faeces could be higher in periurban areas and, these areas hypothetically could be more crucial than rural or highly urbanized areas for parasite transmission [15, 20]
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