The impact of socio-cultural factors on transmission of Taenia spp. and Echinococcus granulosus in Kosovo

Abstract

S U M M A R YEchinococcus granulosus sensu latu (s.l.) and Taenia hydatigena are common parasites of ruminant intermediate hosts in the Balkans. Transmission is linked mainly to home slaughtering and the feeding of infected organs to dogs. In Kosovo, many old sheep are slaughtered particularly during Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). To determine whether this tradition could affect parasite transmission, we compared the probability of 504 dogs to contract taenid infections after deworming during one period before Eid al-Adha and a similar period beginning with this event. Initially, taeniid eggs were detected in 6·2% (CI 4·2-8·6) of the dogs. The prevalence before Eid al-Adha was significantly lower (1·2%, CI 0·4-2·6) as compared with the prevalence after the event (4·3%, CI 2·6-6·3). A comparable trend was apparent at species level for T. hydatigena and E. granulosus. These results indicate that the pronounced increase of taeniid infections, including E. granulosus s.l., after Eid al-Adha is linked to traditional home slaughtering that occurs during this celebration. This particular epidemiological situation provides an opportunity for implementing focussed control activities.

Global Distribution of Alveolar and Cystic Echinococcosis

“…Transmission of CE is linked mainly to home slaughtering and the feeding of infected organs to dogs. Many old sheep are slaughtered, particularly during Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice), and this celebration is followed by a pronounced increase of taeniid infections in dogs, including E. granulosus (Alishani et al, 2016). p1180…”

“…Based on these data, a minimal average annual incidence of 2.7/10 5 inhabitants was calculated (Alishani et al, 2016). However, this incidence probably underestimates the real epidemiological situation as many CE cases have been detected in patients who originated from Kosovo but now live in other European countries such as Germany or Switzerland.…”

Molecular Characterization of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato from Humans in Slovenia

“…As is evident from Table 1 , the CE patients from our study can be divided into two groups depending on their origin; the first group represented autochthonous Slovenes and the second patients who had immigrated to Slovenia from Western Balkan countries. It is well known that socio-cultural factors and thus human behavior contribute to the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of zoonoses, including echinococcosis [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Eating habits may have an influence on the livestock spectrum in an area and consequently contribute to the genetic makeup of zoonotic pathogens.…”

Assessing the Contamination of Food and the Environment With Taenia and Echinococcus Eggs and Their Zoonotic Transmission

“…In our lab, a reliable method combining sieving (eggs retained in a 20-μm sieve), microscopy, multiplex PCR on DNA from taeniid-positive samples (egg-DNA PCR) and optionally confirmatory sequencing was developed [10•, 51] aiming to differentiate eggs of E. granulosus s.l., E. multilocularis and other taeniids, and the method has extensively been used for individual diagnosis (e.g., [54,60,61]) and in studies investigating field-collected specimens (see below). However, molecular analyses of taeniid eggs can also be performed after isolation with classical diagnostic sedimentation/flotation procedures [62,63]. DNA amplification on DNA acquired directly from specimens, i.e., omitting the egg isolation step (copro-DNA PCR), has been shown to be successful in fresh specimens [55•, 64-66].…”