Assessment of a 10-year dog deworming programme on the transmission of Echinococcus multilocularis in Tibetan communities in Sichuan Province, China.

Assessment of a 10-year dog deworming programme on the transmission of Echinococcus multilocularis in Tibetan communities in Sichuan Province, China. Int J Parasitol. 2020 Nov 18;: Authors: Qian W, Bo Z, Wenjie Y, Guangjia Z, Budke CM, Sha L, Wei H, Fan C, Kejun X, Fei X, Zeli D, Qi W, Liu Y, Yan H, Ruirui L, Renxing Y, Giraudoux P, Craig PS Abstract Human alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is considered a neglected zoonotic disease by the World Health Organization (WHO). The causative pathogen, Echinococcus multilocularis, lives as an adult tapeworm in the intestinal tract of canines. AE was identified as an emerging public health issue in Tibetan communities of Shiqu County 20 years ago. On St. Lawrence Island, Alaska (USA), in the 1980s peri-domestic transmission of E. multilocularis was controlled by regular deworming of owned dogs over a 10-year period. In Tibetan communities, on the Tibetan Plateau, control of E. multilocularis transmission is challenging due to the continental setting, complex epidemiology, disease ecology, geography, and socio-cultural factors. However, a control programme based on deworming owned dogs using praziquental (PZQ) has been carried out since 2006. Assessment was conducted in townships where baseline data were available 10 years prior. Purging of dogs by oral administration of arecoline was used to measure E. multilocularis prevalence, trapping small mammals around communities was employed to assess the ...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research