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Massive presence of Echinococcus granulosus (Cestoda, Taeniidae) cysts in a wild boar (Sus scrofa) from Spain

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Abstract

We report a heavy infestation of a free-living wild boar sow from Spain with Echinococcus granulosus cysts and state its molecular characterization. We found >65 hydatid cysts in the thoracic and abdominal cavities of the sow. Parasites were routinely processed for their identification and histopathology and DNA molecular characterization of the E. granulosus cysts were carried out. The polymerase chain reaction results confirmed the E. granulosus identity of the cysts and restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequencing revealed its G1 genotype. Our results suggest that wild boar could be involved in the epidemiology of E. granulosus, particularly considering that large amounts of carcass remains are available to dogs and wolves during the hunting season. The recent population increase of the wild boar in Spain and the DNA confirmation that the wild boar isolate shared identical sequences to the sheep strain emphasize the importance of the reported finding in public health.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Francisca Talavera, Vanesa Alzaga, and Begoña Bailó for their valuable help. This is a contribution to the agreement between CSIC, OAPN, and MAPA on wildlife disease surveillance in Spain and to the Castilla–La Mancha network on wildlife diseases (JCCM). This is also a contribution to project AGL2005-07401, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Plan Nacional, and FEDER. MPMH and JFRF acknowledge postdoctoral contracts from ISCIII. The IREC research group acknowledges support from Consejería de Sanidad JCCM (GC05-06). LG and TG acknowledge support from RETIC. The experiment complies with the current Spanish laws.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, (IREC, CSIC-UCLM), P.O. Box 535, 13.080, Ciudad Real, Spain

    M. P. Martín-Hernando, F. Ruiz-Fons & C. Gortazar

  2. Servicio de Parasitología, Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Majadahonda, 28220, Madrid, Spain

    L. M. González & T. Garate

  3. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, AB15 8QH, Aberdeen, UK

    F. Ruiz-Fons

Authors
  1. M. P. Martín-Hernando
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  2. L. M. González
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  3. F. Ruiz-Fons
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  4. T. Garate
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  5. C. Gortazar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to C. Gortazar.

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Martín-Hernando, M.P., González, L.M., Ruiz-Fons, F. et al. Massive presence of Echinococcus granulosus (Cestoda, Taeniidae) cysts in a wild boar (Sus scrofa) from Spain. Parasitol Res 103, 705–707 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0989-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-008-0989-1

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