[The occurrence of Echinococcus granulosis and E. multilocularis in Thuringia]

The occurrence of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis in the region of Thuringia is reported. Parasitological investigations showed 1421 E. granulosus metacestodes, 91.7% of them in lungs and 1.3% in livers of cattle, 6% in lungs and 1% in livers of pigs; that means an infestation rate at slaughter of 0.1%-0.3% in cattle and 0.001-0.004% or less in pigs resp. 90.1% of the hydatid cysts proved to be fertile even in a size of 1.5 cm diameter. Adult E. granulosus was found post mortem in 2 of 324 dogs. In the period from 1985 to 1988, only 11 dogs were infested with E. granulosus as found at autopsy all over the GDR. Out of 23,325 faecal samples 270 samples (1.2%) were positive for eggs of Taenia spp. The animals with egg-shedding were treated as infected with Echinococcus. In experimental infections of 12 Beagles the prepatent period ranged from the minimum of 34 days up to the maximum of 40 days. The detected E. granulosus strain could be identified as a dog-cattle strain. The microscopical examination of the intestine of 805 red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) revealed the presence of E. multilocularis in 12.7% of the animals. Thuringia is one of the endemic distribution area of E. multilocularis in Central Europe. In the west of Thuringia 25% of the foxes were found with E. multilocularis, in the remaining area (lowlands) only 3.3%. In some of mountainous areas, 40% of the foxes were infected with E. multilocularis. 2 cats of 58 from this region were infected with E. multilocularis.