Detection of Echinococcus coproantigens in stray dogs of northern Spain

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was assessed for its suitability to diagnostically detect Echinococcus coproantigens in fecal samples of dogs infected with E. granulosus. The specificity of the test was determined by investigating fecal samples from 177 Echinococcus-free dogs infected with Taenia spp., 41 dogs with non-taeniid helminths and 24 dogs free of helminth infections. An overall specificity of 97% was determined. The diagnostic sensitivity was in close association to the worm burden of infected individuals: when dogs harboured less than 100 worms, six from 21 samples (29%) were found to be positive in coproantigen ELISA, whereas sensitivity was much higher (23 ELISA-positive from 25 samples = 92%) when dogs had more than 100 worms. Despite the relatively low average sensitivity (63%), the test enabled detection of more than 90% of the biomass of adult Echinococcus present in the respective dog populations. Conclusively, coproantigen detection allows diagnosis of most individual intestinal Echinococcus infections relevant for the egg contamination of the environment and is therefore a valuable tool to determine the relative prevalence of adult stage E. granulosus prevalence in a given endemic area.