Echinococcosis in sub-Saharan Africa: Emerging complexity

Cystic echinococcosis occurs in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa, but the frequency of this zoonosis differs considerably among and within countries. Especially human cases seem to be focally distributed. A number of environmental and behavioural factors partially explain this pattern, i.e. densit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veterinary parasitology 2011-09, Vol.181 (1), p.43-47
Main Authors: Romig, T., Omer, R.A., Zeyhle, E., Hüttner, M., Dinkel, A., Siefert, L., Elmahdi, I.E., Magambo, J., Ocaido, M., Menezes, C.N., Ahmed, M.E., Mbae, C., Grobusch, M.P., Kern, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Africa South of the Sahara - epidemiology
Animals
Communicable Diseases, Emerging - epidemiology
Communicable Diseases, Emerging - parasitology
Cystic echinococcosis
Echinococcosis - epidemiology
Echinococcus - classification
Echinococcus granulosus
Epidemiology
Genotypes
Humans
Livestock
Neglected Diseases - epidemiology
Neglected Diseases - parasitology
Zoonoses - epidemiology
Zoonoses - parasitology
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Summary:Cystic echinococcosis occurs in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa, but the frequency of this zoonosis differs considerably among and within countries. Especially human cases seem to be focally distributed. A number of environmental and behavioural factors partially explain this pattern, i.e. density of livestock, presence of dogs, uncontrolled slaughter, and hygiene. In addition, the various taxa of Echinococcus spp. are known to differ considerably in infectivity to different host species including humans. Genetic characterizations of isolates, which are necessary to evaluate the impact of this factor – so far done in only a few countries – indicate that the diversity of Echinococcus spp. in Sub-Saharan Africa is greater than on any other continent. The very incomplete data which are available show that sympatrical taxa may infect different hosts, others may be geographically restricted, some life cycles involve livestock, others wild animals. Possible implications of this complexity for public health, livestock economy and conservation are briefly discussed.
ISSN:0304-4017
1873-2550
DOI:10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.04.022