Echinococcus multilocularis in Red Foxes in Turkey: Increasing risk in urban

This study was conducted to determine the occurrence of E. multilocularis in foxes and environmental fecal contamination by E. multilocularis in Erzurum, the most highly endemic region for AE in Turkey. The study materials consisted of 50 red fox carcasses collected from 20 counties of Erzurum, Turkey, between October 2015 and February 2016. After the application of the sedimentation and counting technique (SCT), E. multilocularis was identified through the identification of typical morphological structures. Fox fecal samples (n = 600) were also collected from these counties for the isolation of taeniid eggs using the sequential sieving and flotation method (SSFM). Then, the collected adult worms and taeniid eggs were subjected to molecular and sequence analyses. Mature E. multilocularis parasites were found in 42% (21/50) of the fox intestines, with a mean number of 7,806 (150-31,644). The severity of infection was higher in carcasses obtained from the central district (48.6%, 17/35) than in those obtained from the peripheral district (26.7%, 4/15). The prevalence of environmental fecal contamination with E. multilocularis was 10.5% (63/600) in fecal samples collected from all counties of Erzurum. This infection rate was higher in the central district (32.1%, 36/112) than in the peripheral district (5.5%, 27/488; P < 0.0001). In conclusion, contrary to expectation, the prevalence of E. multilocularis positivity was high in urban areas. This could have been due to alterations in the dietary habitats of definitive and intermediate hosts. Therefore, new control strategies are essential to eliminate human AE cases in the future as urbanization advances.