Abstract
In this article the effects of an education programme (area II) on transmission of Echinococcus granulosus from dogs to sheep in Wales and of substitution of the education programme by a 6-weekly anthelmintic control programme (area I) are compared with the situation in an area where no control interventions had occurred (area III). The education programme failed to prevent transmission of E. granulosus to sentinel lambs examined at 15 months of age, 6%, 4%, and 10% of which were infected in areas I, II, and III, respectively. Educational efforts did, however, show some positive effects; for example, significantly more farmers (87-98%) in areas I, II, and III used praziquantel to treat their dogs compared with 39% of farmers in a lowland area in the east of England where E. granulosus is absent. In particular, the interval between treatments of dogs was significantly shorter in areas targeted with education programmes, and 38% of farmers in area I treated dogs at a 4-6 week interval, as did 17% in area II and 10% in area III, compared with only 3% in the lowland area. Also, more dogs in Wales (65-88%) were treated at an interval of < or = 3 months, whereas most of the dogs in the lowland area (64%) were treated at intervals of > or = 6 months. The shorter treatment intervals with praziquantel may account for the significantly fewer positive coproantigen tests among dogs in area I (6.3%) and area II (5.6%) compared with area III (23.9%).
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Allan J. C., Craig P. S., Garcia Noval J., Mencos F., Liu D., Wang Y., Wen H., Zhou P., Stringer R., Rogan M. Coproantigen detection for immunodiagnosis of echinococcosis and taeniasis in dogs and humans. Parasitology. 1992 Apr;104(Pt 2):347–356. doi: 10.1017/s0031182000061801. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Beard T. C. The elimination of echinococcosis from Iceland. Bull World Health Organ. 1973 Jun;48(6):653–660. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cabrera P. A., Parietti S., Haran G., Benavidez U., Lloyd S., Perera G., Valledor S., Gemmell M. A., Botto T. Rates of reinfection with Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia hydatigena, taenia ovis and other cestodes in a rural dog population in Uruguay. Int J Parasitol. 1996 Jan;26(1):79–83. doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(95)00082-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Craig P. S., Gasser R. B., Parada L., Cabrera P., Parietti S., Borgues C., Acuttis A., Agulla J., Snowden K., Paolillo E. Diagnosis of canine echinococcosis: comparison of coproantigen and serum antibody tests with arecoline purgation in Uruguay. Vet Parasitol. 1995 Feb;56(4):293–301. doi: 10.1016/0304-4017(94)00680-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gemmell M. A. Australasian contributions to an understanding of the epidemiology and control of hydatid disease caused by Echinococcus granulosus--past, present and future. Int J Parasitol. 1990 Jul;20(4):431–456. doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(90)90192-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Lloyd S., Martin S. C., Walters T. M., Soulsby E. J. Use of sentinel lambs for early monitoring of the South Powys Hydatidosis Control Scheme: prevalence of Echinococcus granulosus and some other helminths. Vet Rec. 1991 Jul 27;129(4):73–76. doi: 10.1136/vr.129.4.73. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Palmer S. R., Biffin A. H., Craig P. S., Walters T. M. Control of hydatid disease in Wales. BMJ. 1996 Mar 16;312(7032):674–675. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7032.674. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]