A survey was conducted on 30 Danish mink farms from April to October 2016 to determine the prevalence and species of Eimeria in Danish farmed mink. In total, 2.6% of mink faecal samples (108/4140) were positive for Eimeria vison-like oocysts by microscopy, with 24.8% (78/315) of mink being positive at least once during the study period. Morphological analysis of sporulated oocysts (n = 20) identified Eimeria vison-like oocysts measuring 21.0 × 13.8 μm with a length/width (L/W) ratio of 1.5. Phylogenetic analysis of 18S rRNA sequences (1221 bp) from three positive mink indicated that Eimeria vison-like shared the highest genetic similarity to Eimeria sp. ex Apodemus agrarius from a Striped field mouse (A. agrarius) from the Czech Republic (99.6%). Analysis of a shorter region of 18S (531 bp) revealed that the E. vison-like genotype sequences grouped in the same clade and shared 97.7% similarity with E. furonis. At the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) locus, mink-derived sequences were not available from GenBank and phylogenetic analysis placed the novel E. vison-like in a clade with E. cf. ictidea (99.4% similarity) from a black footed ferret (Mustela nigripes) from Canada.
In Western Europe, the Echinococcus multilocularis lifecycle is predominantly sylvatic, typically involving red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as the main definitive hosts with Microtus spp. and Arvicola spp. as intermediate hosts. During a 4-year surveillance study (2012-2015), Danish red foxes and raccoon dogs (n = 1345) were examined for E. multilocularis. Moreover, 134 insectivores and rodents collected in South Jutland during spring and summer 2016 were examined for the presence of metacestodes. The sedimentation and counting technique and molecular typing were used to identify E. multilocularis infections in the carnivores, while the rodent livers were examined macro- and microscopically for parasite lesions. Following morphological identification of E. multilocularis adult worms, the identity was verified by sequence analysis of the 12S rRNA gene in most cases (n = 13). Echinococcus multilocularis infection was demonstrated in 19 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) originating from only two specific areas of South Jutland, namely Højer and Grindsted, and in two raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides), originating from Højer. In Højer, 28.5% (CI 95% 11.7-45.3) of the examined red foxes were E. multilocularis positive per year. Moreover, positive red foxes were identified each year from 2012 to 2015, while E. multilocularis positive red foxes were only identified in Grindsted in 2013 (4.0%) and 2014 (6.4%). In contrast, all collected rodents were negative for E. multilocularis. We conclude that E. multilocularis is locally endemic in South Jutland with a high local prevalence in Højer.
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