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What is already known about this topic? Both alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and cystic echinococcosis are endemic in China, among which alveolar echinococcosis has a very high mortality rate. What is added by this report? The survey results showed the prevalence and scope of AE in China and identified high-risk groups including children, monks, herdsmen and illiterate people. At the same time, all the cases found in the survey (more than 90% of the patients did not go to the hospital for diagnosis and treatment before survey) were promptly diagnosed and treated. What are the implications for public health practice? This study provides information for the development of a plan for AE prevention and control and for the implementation of interventions targeted to high-risk populations.

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What is already known about this topic?Previous surveys have mainly focused on how well residents and primary school students have understood the core knowledge of echinococcosis control and are limited in terms of the comprehensiveness of the knowledge category and respondents. What is added by this report?There were some shortcomings in related knowledge of echinococcosis among students, which showed a tendency to know methods but not the rationale. The differences among regions indicated a lack of a unified system for training educators and allocating comprehensive educational material. What are the implications for public health practices?The results of this study provide evidence to potentially help improve health education programs in the new phase of echinococcosis prevention and control in China.

Rodents are natural reservoirs of diverse zoonotic viruses and widely distributed on the Tibetan Plateau. A comprehensive understanding of the virome in local rodent species could provide baseline of viral content and assist in efforts to reduce the risk for future emergence of rodent related zoonotic diseases. A total of 205 tissue and fecal samples from 41 wild Qinghai voles were collected. Metagenomic analyses were performed to outline the characteristics of the viromes, and phylogenetic analyses were used to identify the novel viral genomes. The virome distribution among five tissues (liver, lung, spleen, small intestine with content and feces) was also compared. We identified sequences related to 46 viral families. Novel viral genomes from distinct evolutionary lineages with known viruses were characterized for their genomic and evolutionary characteristics, including Hepatovirus, Hepacivirus, Rotavirus, and Picobirnavirus. Further analyses revealed that the core virome harbored by rodent internal tissues were quite different from the virome found in intestine and fecal samples. These findings provide an overview of the viromes in wild Qinghai voles, which are unique and the most common rodent species in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. A high diversity of viruses is likely present in rodent species in this area.