Factors associated withEchinococcus multilocularisinfection in coyotes in southern Ontario

Abstract

Echinococcus multilocularis was recently reported in wild canids across southern Ontario, a newly recognized endemic area in Canada. In such areas, a comprehensive understanding of factors associated with infection in definitive hosts (wild canids) is critical for mitigating risk of transmission to humans. However, little is known about the transmission dynamics of the parasite in definitive hosts for this region. A study was therefore carried out to investigate the association of host‐level (sex, body condition), environmental (southern Ontario region, land cover), temporal (season, hunting season, calendar year) and extraneous factors (submitter type) with E. multilocularis infection in coyotes in southern Ontario. Between November 2015 and March 2017, 416 coyotes were collected from across the region as part of a study that investigated the prevalence and distribution of the parasite in wild canids; approximately 24% of coyotes were positive for E. multilocularis. Associations between infection and factors of interest were assessed via a mixed‐effects logistic regression model with a random intercept for submitter to account for clustering. Coyotes with poor body condition were at greater odds of E. multilocularis infection than those in good condition (odds ratio [OR] 2.14; 95% CI: 1.08–4.26; p = .030). A negative association was observed between infection in coyotes and the proportion of natural land in a coyote's estimated home range (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.52–0.85; p = .001). Coyotes from the western region of southern Ontario had lower odds of infection compared to coyotes from the central region (OR: 0.26; 95% CI: 0.12–0.55; p < .001). These results can be used to help guide future public health prevention strategies for human alveolar echinococcosis.

Multiscale ecological drivers of Echinococcus multilocularis spatial distribution in wild hosts: A systematic review

“…Positive (+ corr) and negative (− corr) correlations of ecological drivers with the occurrence, prevalence or intensity of infection with E. multilocularis are reported, together with asymptotic, unimodal or other (Assoc) relationships. Numbers indicate the following references: 1 Staubach et al, 2001 , 2 Stieger et al, 2002 , 3 Hansen et al, 2004 , 4 Pleydell et al, 2004 , 5 Miterpakova et al, 2006 , 6 Fuglei et al, 2008 , 7 Casulli et al, 2010 , 8 Raoul et al, 2010 , 9 Stien et al, 2010 , 10 Burlet et al, 2011 , 11 Robardet et al, 2011 , 12 Tolnai et al, 2013 , 13 Guerra et al, 2014 , 14 Takeuchi-Storm et al, 2015 , 15 Miller et al, 2017 , 16 Otero-Abad et al, 2017 , 17 Bastien et al, 2018 , 18 Botero-Cañola et al, 2019 , 19 Mori et al, 2019 , 20 Kotwa et al, 2020 , 21 Avcioglu et al, 2021 , 22 Cenni et al, 2023 , 23 Mori et al, 2023 . The spatial scale(s) of the studies that report an association with a given factor is/are also reported.…”

Echinococcus in wild canids in Québec (Canada) and Maine (USA)

“…We did not detect E . multilocularis in Québec, despite sampling several potential definitive host species (coyotes, red/arctic foxes, wolves) within a few hundred kilometers of health regions in Ontario where infected canids were detected [ 3 ]. Although this distance is well within the migratory limits of such canids [ 29 ], it is possible that our availability sampling technique was not ideal for detection, as we collected no canids directly along the provincial border.…”

“…multilocularis at its western and eastern distributional limits in Canada, and the novel identification of E . canadensis G8 in moose in Maine [ 2 , 3 ]. The Echinococcus genus is a group of cestodes maintained by specific predator-prey host assemblages in a wide range of geographic and climatic locales around the world [ 4 ].…”

“…At the same time, E . multilocularis was reported in Canadian wolves and coyotes outside of the NTZ and NCR [ 3 , 10 ]. The first canine case of alveolar echinococcosis in North America was detected in 2009, and subsequently at least 15 cases have been detected across most of western Canada and Ontario [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…The province of Québec was chosen because it borders on Maine, is adjacent to Ontario where E . multilocularis is rapidly emerging as a concern in canids [ 3 ], and because surveillance data on Québec canids dates to the 1980s [ 15 ].…”