Preliminary studies on the prevalence and genotyping of Echinococcus granulosus infection in stray dogs in Van Province, Turkey

Abstract

IntroductionEchinococcus granulosus is a zoonotic helminth of the Taeniidae family living in the small intestines of dogs. The hydatid cyst, which is the larval form of this parasite, is observed in sheep, goat, cattle, and many other organisms including humans. It causes a disease called cystic echinococcosis. Identification of strains of E. granulosus in dogs is critical in parasite control and eradication where possible. This study aims to determine the genotype of E. granulosus eggs and prevalence of this parasite in the faeces of dogs in the Van Province using the copro-PCR method.Material and MethodsThis study was conducted between 2015 and 2016 on the faeces obtained from 100 stray dogs from different parts of the Van Province. The coprological examination was conducted using the formalin-ether concentration method.ResultsTaeniidae eggs were found in 10 (10%) out of 100 faecal samples. E. granulosus was detected in 4 out of 10 of these (40%) infected samples. Sequence analysis of positive amplicons obtained from PCR showed that there were sheep strains (G1).ConclusionDogs in Van area are primarily infected with the livestock genotype of E. granulosus, which is thought to be a potential zoonotic threat to humans.

A Case Report of Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (G1) in a Domestic Cat in Turkey

“…The fact that genotype G1 was found in also our study shows again that we are in accord with the literature in both Turkey and the rest of the world and it is the most common strain. Also, genotype G1 of E. granulosus was reported in a study on dogs in the Van province of Turkey, where coincides with this case report (Oguz et al, 2018).…”

“…Until now, G1, G3, G4, G5, G6 and G7 genotypes have been isolated in Turkey (Utuk and Simsek, 2008;Simsek et al, 2011;Oguz et al, 2018;Avcioglu et al, 2021). G1 is the dominant strain also in Turkey, and in consequence of the DNA sequence analyses of the mitochondrial cox1 regions of the isolates obtained from sheep, goats, cattle, camels, humans, and dogs, G1 strain was identified in all of these hosts (Utuk and Simsek, 2008).…”

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

“…Among these, G1 has been considered the most prevalent in animals and human CE cases in Turkey. The G1 genotype was first reported in a dog by Utuk et al (2008) and later among 100 dogs by three other studies (Kuru et al, 2013;Oge et al, 2017;Oguz et al, 2018) from different parts of Turkey using limited molecular studies.…”

“…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).…”

Molecular Phylodiagnosis of Taenia hydatigena from Stray Dogs in Erbil Province-Kurdistan Region/Iraq

“…The disease in sheep-rearing countries is most prevalent; due to high number of stray dogs, and improper disposal of slaughtered home offal (Haddawee et al, 2018). Previous studies have indicated that T. hydatigena is one of the most prevalent Taenia species in dogs in Iraq (Faraj and Al-Amery, 2018), Iran (Emamapour et al, 2015), Turkey (Oguz et al, 2018), Russia (Moskvina and Ermolenko, 2016), and Italy (Liberato et al, 2018). The family Taeniidae (Echinococcus and Taenia) is the similarity of their eggs, in which they are microscopically indistinguishable (Mirbadie et al, 2019).…”