Veterinarska stanica, Vol. 52 No. 2, 2021.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.46419/vs.52.2.8
Alveolar echinococcosis - spread of an invasion or zoonosis not previously diagnosed?
Lana Vukres Jazić
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Magda Sindičić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1391-3648
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Miljenko Bujanić
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Franjo Martinković
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Tomislav Gomerčić
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Dean Konjević
; Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Alveolar echinococcosis is a dangerous zoonosis caused by the larval stage of the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis. It is usually transmitted in a sylvatic cycle where red fox is the definite host and various rodents are intermediate hosts. Humans are an aberrant, dead-end host as they play no role in the life cycle of the parasite, though severe clinical symptoms of the disease may arise. Until the 1980s, only four countries were recognized as endemic areas for the
disease (France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria). The latest research, however, suggests the presence of E. multilocularis in
foxes in at least 24 European countries. Since alveolar echinococcosis is a deadly zoonosis if left undiagnosed and untreated, its spread
is a matter of great public health concern. With the goal of keeping this disease under control, continuous epidemiological studies and monitoring of fox populations is required. Based on the data collected from numerous studies over the past two decades, this review article emphasizes the danger that alveolar echinococcosis poses as an emerging and reemerging disease in an increasing number of European countries, and the role of wild animals in its spread.
Keywords
Echinococcus multilocularis; alveolar echinococcosis; wildlife; zoonosis
Hrčak ID:
239482
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2020.
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