[Alveolar hydatidosis (alveococcosis) in the Czech Republic and its immunodiagnosis]

The frequent contemporary infections with the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis in foxes in some districts of the Czech Republic make it necessary to consider the probability of infection of man by the larval stage of this tapeworm in this country. So far there was in the Czech Republic a single case of alveolar hydatidosis (in 1977) in man with a lethal outcome. Foxes Vulpes vulpes increased in the Czech Republic considerably in numbers in recent years, and their infestations with E. multilocularis, in particular in the South Bohemian and North Bohemian regions is alarming. However so far it is not known whether the findings in foxes have a rising trend as compared with previous years as nobody was concerned with this particular problem in the past. The authors discuss also the epidemiology of alveococcosis and describe briefly its symptomatology.