Endoparasites of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the Slovak Republic with the emphasis on zoonotic species Echinococcus multilocularis and Trichinella spp.

Abstract

73 SummaryDue to specific geographical localization, climatic and geomorphologic conditions, several serious parasitic diseases circulate in the territory of the Slovak Republic that makes this area an ideal model territory of the central European red fox system. The red fox is an important reservoir host of parasites, which can be spread to another animals and humans. Our study was aimed at determining the current prevalence of certain parasites in red foxes from the entire territory of the Slovak Republic and identifies some ecological factors influencing their epidemiology. Within the first systematic investigation of red foxes carried out between the years 2000 and 2006 in total 4026 foxes were examined for Echinococcus multilocularis (prevalence 31.1 %) and 4699 foxes were investigated for the presence of Trichinella spp. larvae (10.4 % infected). The results of the next separate study revealed that 83.3 % of 1198 red foxes in the Slovak Republic had coccidian oocysts and helminth eggs in their faeces. Fifteen helminth species including two trematode, four cestode and nine nematode species were detected by coprological examination. Nine of these parasite taxa have zoonotic potential: Capillaria spp. (prevalence 22.4 %), Ancylostoma caninum (18.1 %), Toxocara canis (12.5 %), Taenia spp. (12.2 %), Mesocestoides spp. (5.8 %), Strongyloides stercoralis (1.6 %), Hymenolepis diminuta (0.6 %), Dipylidium caninum (0.4 %) and Opisthorchis felineus (0.3 %). Toxascaris leonina was the most common helminth species found in this survey (42.9 %).

Case of human Dirofilaria repens infection manifested by cutaneous larva migrans syndrome

“…In Slovakia, few human cases of S. stercoralis infection were recorded (Líšková et al 2001;Hajduková 2005), and A. caninum is a common intestinal parasite of domestic and wild carnivores (Miterpáková et al 2009;Rudohradská et al 2011). Nevertheless, coprological and serological investigations did not confirm S. stercoralis to be the causative agent of infection.…”

Development of cellular immune response of mice to infection with low doses of Trichinella spiralis, Trichinella britovi and Trichinella pseudospiralis larvae

“…is the intestinal nematode parasite with worldwide distribution and which causes trichinellosis-a serious zoonosis (Miterpáková et al 2009;Paraličová et al 2009). At present, the genus Trichinella comprises five encapsulating (Trichinella spiralis, Trichinella nativa, Trichinella britovi, Trichinella nelsoni and Trichinella murrelli) and three non-encapsulating species (Trichinella pseudospiralis, Trichinella papuae and Trichinella zimbabwensis; Morgan 2000).…”

Infecciones parasitarias del coyote, <i>Canis latrans</i> (Carnivora: Canidae) en un Parque Nacional y una zona agrícola en Costa Rica

“…Los reportes de Hymenolepis sp. en heces de coyotes de Florida (Manning 2007), H. diminuta en heces de zorros rojos en Eslovaquia (Miterpáková et al 2009), al igual que H. fasciata en necropsias de zorros grises suramericanos (Alarcón-Navarro 2005), no son conclusivos para determinar que esta especie realmente se encuentra en C. latrans.…”