Carcasses of 26 wolves were collected during the 2000/2001 and 2003/2004 hunting seasons and examined for helminths. Thirteen helminth species were recorded: one trematode (Alaria alata), seven cestodes (Diphyllobothrium latum, Mesocestoides lineatus, Taenia hydatigena, Taenia multiceps, Taenia ovis, Taenia pisiformis, and Echinococcus granulosus), and five nematode species (Uncinaria stenocephala, Toxascaris leonina, Toxocara canis, Trichinella nativa, and Trichinella britovi). The most common species were A. alata and U. stenocephala. Mature Echinococcus granulosus was found and described for the first time in Estonia, and its identity verified using PCR-RFLP analysis. Sequencing a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA NADH dehydrogenase 1 (mtND1) gene showed that the E. granulosus strain from Estonia was identical to strain G10, recently characterized in reindeer and moose in Finland.

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Meat of domestic pigs and wild boars has been the significant source of emerged human trichinellosis in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia over the past two decades. However, there is very little known on the occurrence of Trichinella spp. in main wildlife reservoirs and its transmission in domestic and sylvatic cycles in these countries. The present study demonstrated considerably higher endemicity of Trichinella spp. in main sylvatic reservoirs (28.9-42% in foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides) in all three countries than previously reported. Molecular identification of Trichinella larvae from more than 500 sylvatic and domestic animals revealed four Trichinella species (Trichinella spiralis, Trichinella britovi, Trichinella nativa, and Trichinella pseudospiralis) sympatric in a relatively small area and several as the first records for the respective countries. The nonencapsulating T. pseudospiralis is found for the first time in the Eastern Europe. Sylvatic T. britovi was found in domestic pigs in Lithuania and Latvia (16 and 57.1%, respectively) and only in these countries, domestic T. spiralis was detected in sylvatic animals in areas where domestic trichinellosis was registered. The study suggests that transmission of Trichinella between domestic and sylvatic cycles in Lithuania and Latvia is favored by improper human behavior, e.g., pig and slaughter waste management.

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This study investigated sequence variability in the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA for 3 species of Metastrongylus (porcine lungworms). The ITS-2 region was amplified by PCR from individuals of M. elongatus, M. pudendotectus and M. salmi, and then subjected directly to single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis (SSCP), which allowed the direct display of sequence variation within and among individuals representing each species. There were marked differences in SSCP profiles among species, making this approach useful for species identification. For individual species, representative bands were excised from electrophoretic gels, reamplified by PCR and subjected to direct sequencing. For all 3 taxa, variability in the ITS-2 was related chiefly to the presence of microsatellites. Eight different microsatellites were identified, namely (A)n, (TG)n, (TCG)n, (TA)n, (TATG)n, (G)n, (TACA)n and (T)n. Considerable variability in microsatellite repeat number (ranging from 1 to 23) was found among individual nematodes of a species and between species. The microsatellites were located to specific stem or loop regions in the predicted ITS-2 precursor rRNA secondary structure. The results may suggest that slipped-strand mispairing in microsatellite regions contributes to sequence variability in the ITS-2 of Metastrongylus species under structural constraint as a consequence of microsatellite location in the precursor rRNA. Similar studies of the ITS-2 for a wide range of parasitic nematodes may lead to a better understanding of concerted evolution in these organisms.

Mägi, E., T. Järvis, I. Miller: Effects of Different Plant Products against Pig Mange Mites. Acta Vet. Brno 2006, 75: 283-287.The objective of this study was to determine the antiparasitic efficiency of herbal-based products. Four medicinal plant species extracts in 10% ethanol solutions (hogweed Heracleum sosnowskyi Manden, mugwort Artemisia vulgaris L., tansy Tanacetum vulgare L., wormwood Artemisia absinthium L.), and seven essential medicinal ethereal oils used in 1% emulsions (garlic Allium sativum L., black pepper Piper nigrum L., juniper Juniperus communis L., citronella grass Cymbopogon nardus Rendle, pennyroyal Mentha pulegium L., eucalyptus Eucalyptus globulus Labill., tea tree Melaleuca alternifolia Gheel) were tested a on pig farm in Estonia to control swine sarcoptic mange mites (Sarcoptes scabiei var. suis (L. 1758) Latreille, 1802). Trial groups (6 pigs each) were treated over the whole body twice, with one week interval in between; one group was left as untreated control. All the preparations used inhibited the development of and were more or less lethal to mange mites. Tea tree and citronella volatile oil preparations proved to be the most effective (viability of mites < 5% in 4 weeks). The most active extract of tested ethanol solutions was obtained from hogweed seeds: after two treatments of pigs, 57 -93% of parasites died in 2 -4 weeks. The extracts of local plants tansy and wormwood diminished the number of mites up to 44% within the first week after treatments. The results indicate that plant extracts may be further tested in practice as alternatives to drugs of synthetic origin.

The aim of the study was to elucidate the distribution and possible transmission routes of Toxocara spp. infection in Estonia. Out of 454 faecal and sand samples collected from park lawns and sandpits in the town of Tartu, 19 were Toxocara positive (4.2%). Out of the 45 sandpit samples 17.8% were Toxocara positive. Cat faeces was found in 21 sandpit samples. Parasitological necropsies were performed on 41 euthanised stray dogs and 27 cats in the Tallinn Dog Home. Additionally, 13 wild free-roaming brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) were captured from the Tallinn Dog Home territory, necropsied and studied for the presence of Toxocara larvae. Toxocara canis adults were found in 14.6% of the dogs and Toxocara cati (syn. mystax) adults in the small intestines of 48.2% of the cats examined. Larval infection was detected in the kidney and liver in 5 dogs (12.2%). Our study demonstrated only low-level larval Toxocara infections in adult dogs. Toxocara larvae were not found in cats and brown rats. According to the results of this study, cats more often carry Toxocara infection than dogs. Under our conditions, stray and free-roaming cats are the main contaminators of the environment with Toxocara eggs. Children playing in sandpits are the main risk group for larval toxocarosis.

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