Alveolar echinococcosis, caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, is one of the world's most dangerous zoonosis and an emerging disease with growing incidence in humans. The disease has been reported in new areas and host species in the last two decades, and the primary hosts of the parasite - red fox, golden jackal and grey wolf - are expanding their distribution in Europe. Here we report the morphological and molecular identification of Echinococcus multilocularis tapeworms in one of 29 carcasses of adult golden jackals in Croatia, where the only previous report of the parasite was in red foxes in 2016. These results suggest that alveolar echinococcosis should be treated as an emerging disease in Croatia.

ABSTRACTreports on the parasitic fauna of wildcats (Felis silvestris silvestris) are rare and often based on a small sample size, therefore the goal of this research was to investigate the prevalence of endoparasites in wildcats in Croatia. Necropsy was conducted on 34 adult wildcats killed in traffic or provided by hunters following regular hunting operations. all animals tested negative for rabies. the contents of the stomach and intestine were examined under a microscope. Feces from the rectum were analyzed using flotation with a saturated ZnSO 4 solution, while the diaphragm was examined using artificial digestion. Direct immunofluorescence was used for the first time to detect Giardia sp. cysts in wildcats. all animals were infected with at least one species of parasites, while the most diverse infestation included six different species of parasites in a single animal. the following parasite species were found (% of prevalence of adult parasites and their developmental stages in all analyzed samples): Taenia

This is the first report of multidrug resistant P. mirabilis in a nursing home in Croatia. Cephalosporin resistance was due to plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamase CMY-16.

Paramphistomosis, caused by paramphistomid flukes, is a gastrointestinal parasitic disease of domestic and wild ruminants. Originally thought to be limited to the tropics and subtropics, the disease has recently been reported in temperate regions. Here we describe the concurrent infection of a red deer doe (Cervus elaphus) with Paramphistomum leydeni and Paramphistomum cervi. This is the first report of P. leydeni in Croatia. Flukes were identified on the basis of morphological keys (tegumental papillae) and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region 2 in ribosomal DNA. Our results confirm that the absence of tegumental papillae allows P. cervi to be differentiated morphologically from other paramphistomid species in Europe based on incident light stereomicroscopy. Nevertheless the limitations of morphological identification and taxonomic issues suggest that previous findings on paramphistomid infection should be interpreted carefully. The possible worldwide distribution of these pathogens means that paramphistomosis may be more common and its economic impact greater than previously thought.

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