First Report of <i>Echinococcus equinus</i> in a Donkey in Turkey

Abstract

A 2-year-old female donkey (Equus asinus) was euthanized in the Pathology Department of Firat University, Elazig, Turkey. Necropsy disclosed the presence of 7 hydatid cysts distributed throughout the lung parenchyma. One of those cysts represented the parasite material of the present study and was molecularly identified through sequencing of a fragment of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase subunit 1 (NADH1) gene, as Echinococcus equinus. The generated CO1 sequence supports the presence of the dominant haplotype as has been described in Europe and Africa. The NADH1 sequence was found similar to sequences reported in equids in Egypt and the United Kingdom. The molecular identification of E. equinus in a donkey is being reported for the first time in Turkey.

The situation of echinococcosis in stray dogs in Turkey: the first finding of Echinococcus multilocularis and Echinococcus ortleppi

“…Determination of the species and genotypes of Echinoccoccus in definitive and intermediate hosts in an endemic area is essential to understanding the transmission dynamics of the parasite and designing effective control programmes (Alvarez Rojas et al, 2014;Romig et al, 2015). To date, molecular studies on E. granulosus carried out in Turkey have reported several genotypes (G1/ G3, G4, G6 and G7) in livestock (Bowles et al, 1992;Vural et al, 2008;Snabel et al, 2009;Simsek et al, 2010Simsek et al, , 2015Simsek and Cevik, 2014;Erdogan et al, 2017) and humans (G1/G3, G6 and G7) (Snabel et al, 2009;Eryildiz and Sakru, 2012;Kurt et al, 2020) from different endemic foci. Among these, G1 has been considered the most prevalent in animals and human CE cases in Turkey.…”

“…To date, molecular studies on E. granulosus carried out in Turkey have reported several genotypes (G1−G3, G4, G6 and G7) in domestic livestock (Bowles et al, 1992;Vural et al, 2008;Snabel et al, 2009;Simsek et al, 2010Simsek et al, , 2015Simsek and Cevik, 2014;Erdogan et al, 2017) as well as in humans (G1−G3, G6 and G7) (Snabel et al, 2009;Eryildiz and Sakru, 2012) from different endemic foci of Turkey. Only one genotype (G1) has been reported in dogs from different parts of Turkey (Utuk et al, 2008;Kuru et al, 2013;Oge et al, 2017;Oguz et al, 2018).…”

High-resolution phylogeography of zoonotic tapewormEchinococcus granulosussensu stricto genotype G1 with an emphasis on its distribution in Turkey, Italy and Spain

“…In other European countries, G1 has been reported in dogs, jackals or wolves in Austria, Portugal, Kosovo, Bulgaria and Romania (Breyer et al 2004; Sherifi et al 2011) and in intermediate hosts such as humans, pigs, cattle or sheep (Breyer et al 2004; Bart et al 2006; Badaraco et al 2008; Beato et al 2010; Schneider et al 2010). The genotype has been described also in horse in Italy (Varcasia et al 2008), horse, mule and donkey in Turkey (Utuk and Simsek, 2013; Simsek and Cevik, 2014; Simsek et al 2015) and in red deer in Romania (Onac et al 2013). In addition to being widely spread among wild and domestic animals in Europe, genotype G1 is the most frequently implicated genotype in human infections, 88% worldwide (Alvarez Rojas et al .…”

Cystic echinococcosis in donkeys in eastern Africa

“…Data on CE in donkeys are few worldwide, e.g. from Turkey, Italy and Israel (Abo-Shehada, 1988 ; Mukbel et al ., 2000 ; Thompson and McManus, 2002 ; Oge et al ., 2004 ; Varcasia et al ., 2008 ; Simsek et al ., 2015 ). In Africa, such reports are restricted to the North (Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco), while no data exist from sub-Saharan Africa despite the ubiquity of donkeys in many countries (Pandey, 1980 ; Azlaf and Dakkak, 2006 ; Haridy et al ., 2008 ; Taha, 2012 ; Aboelhadid et al ., 2013 ; Boufana et al ., 2014 ; Lahmar et al ., 2014 ; Mahdy et al ., 2014 a , 2014 b ; Barghash et al ., 2017 ; Desouky et al ., 2017 ).…”