Publication at Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen |
2001
Abstract
Nested PCR was used as a diagnostic tool to investigate the presence of Echinococcus multilocularis tapeworm in protected species of carnivores in Slovakia. Twenty-three faecal samples from wolves, four samples from bears and three samples from lynx from the Muranska Planina mountains and eight samples from wolves from the Bukovske Vrchy mountains were examined.
E. nultilocularis DNA was detected in two samples of wolves' faeces from the Muranska Planina mountains and one sample from the Bukovske Vrchy mountains. Examination of bears' and lynx faecal samples gave negative results.
The detection of E. multilocularis in wolves has extended the range of its known definitive hosts in Europe.