European Echinococcosis Registry: Human Alveolar Echinococcosis, Europe, 1982–2000

Abstract

Surveillance for alveolar echinococcosis in central Europe was initiated in 1998. On a voluntary basis, 559 patients were reported to the registry. Most cases originated from rural communities in regions from eastern France to western Austria; single cases were reported far away from the disease-“endemic” zone throughout central Europe. Of 210 patients, 61.4% were involved in vocational or part-time farming, gardening, forestry, or hunting. Patients were diagnosed at a mean age of 52.5 years; 78% had symptoms. Alveolar echinococcosis primarily manifested as a liver disease. Of the 559 patients, 190 (34%) were already affected by spread of the parasitic larval tissue. Of 408 (73%) patients alive in 2000, 4.9% were cured. The increasing prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis in foxes in rural and urban areas of central Europe and the occurrence of cases outside the alveolar echinococcosis–endemic regions suggest that this disease deserves increased attention.

Genetic survey of alveolar and cystic echinococcoses in Romania: first molecular evidence of Echinococcus multilocularis in humans in the country

“…Three of 5 AE affected patients were farmers and one case was associated with a 17-year-old student who has regularly spent some time at the grandparent´s countryside house. This is in agreement with the summarized data for AE patients from Europe of Kern et al (2003) who reported 61.4 % of 210 patients as involved in vocational or part-time farming, gardening, forestry, or hunting. Three patients infected with AE originated from the two sites of the Iasi county, and one patient was diagnosed from both Botoșani and Vaslui counties.…”

Occurence of Echinococcus multilocularis in red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) in southern Poland

“…The case recognised in Nowy Targ district in 2005 (22 year old woman) where a high prevalence of E. multilocularis in foxes was found in this study (63.9 %) confirms the high risk of infection in highly endemic areas. The total number of verified AE cases reported in 1982 -2000 to the European Echinococcosis Registry was 559, with 42.0 % diagnosed in France, 23.6 % in Germany, and 21.1 % in Switzerland (Kern et al, 2003). A majority of human AE cases were noted in the areas roughly corresponding to the regions of E. multilocularis incidents in the fox population.…”

Infection of red foxes with Echinococcus multilocularis in western Switzerland

“…Despite high prevalences in foxes, alveolar echinococcosis in humans is relatively rare. In Switzerland, a relatively stable annual morbidity rate of 0.18 cases per 100,000 inhabitants was recorded in recent decades, with high annual incidence rates occurring more regionally, as observed in the Swiss canton of Jura (0.74/ 100,000) (Gottstein et al, 1987, Ammann et al, 1999, Kern et al, 2003. From 1990 to 1993 we studied the infection of foxes from the Jura mountains, which constitute an area adjacent to the endemic Doubs department in France (Bresson-Hadni et al, 1994).…”