Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Sezione di Parassitologia e Malattie Parassitarie Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Vienna 2 - 07100 Sassari, Italy.
Vet Parasitol. 2011 Sep 27;181(2-4):335-40. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2011.05.006. Epub 2011 May 11.
Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most widespread parasitic diseases in Sardinia, the second largest Mediterranean island where almost 3,558,000 milk sheep were raised extensively. The aim of this survey was to evaluate the level of farmers' knowledge on CE transmission, focusing on the role of human to facilitate the persistence of this zoonosis in Sardinia after 14 years after the last campaign against CE. The other goal of the survey is to update on presence of Echinococcus granulosus in its definitive hosts through three ELISA coproantigen tests. An interview was carried out with 172 farmers. The questionnaire was designed to include possible factors associated with the transmission of Echinococcosis: ownership and number of dogs, the use of anthelmintic drugs against dog cestode, frequency of anthelmintic treatment in dogs, home slaughtering and offal disposal. Individual faecal samples were retrieved from 300 dogs, and after a preliminary macroscopic examination to discover adult worms and/or proglottids, was submitted to copromicroscopic examination. Coproantigens were then extracted according to the protocol described by Allan et al. (1992), and subsequently stored at -20°C until use. Faecal soluble antigens from E. granulosus were detected using three different ELISA coproantigen assays: (a) the commercially produced Chekit Echinotest (Bommeli, Bern, CH) based on polyclonal antibodies against adult excretory/secretory (E/S) antigens; (b) a sandwich ELISA that uses rabbit polyclonal antibodies against adult E/S antigens and biotinylated monoclonal antibody EmA9 produced against adult Echinococcus multilocularis somatic extract (Malgor et al., 1997); and (c) a sandwich assay that uses monoclonal antibody EgC3 produced by immunization with adult E. granulosus E/S products (Casaravilla et al., 2005). Questionnaire results reveal that on all farms home-slaughtering was done, and offal was used as dog meal raw (17%) or after boiling (37%), discarded in the trash (23%), or buried superficially (15%). Most farmers (69%) declared to deworm their dogs, but only 10% used cestodicidal drugs. The coprological survey of 300 farm dogs using sedimentation, flotation and three different coproantigen (CA) ELISAs resulted in a faecal prevalence of 8.3% for taeniid eggs, while the CA tests gave prevalences of 3% (Chekit Echinotest, Bommeli), 6% (EmA9 sandwich ELISA) and 10% (EgC3 sandwich ELISA). Our results show that this is not only an educational problem, but also an economic one, stressing the need that future control plans should follow an integrative approach including veterinary and medical services, farmers, breeders' associations and the Government.
包虫病（CE）是撒丁岛最广泛流行的寄生虫病之一，撒丁岛是地中海第二大岛，那里广泛饲养着近 355.8 万头奶绵羊。本调查的目的是评估农民对 CE 传播的知识水平，重点关注人类在撒丁岛最后一次 CE 运动 14 年后促进这种人畜共患病持续存在的作用。该调查的另一个目标是通过三种 ELISA 粪抗原检测更新其最终宿主中细粒棘球绦虫的存在情况。对 172 名农民进行了访谈。问卷的设计包括可能与包虫病传播相关的因素：狗的所有权和数量、犬绦虫驱虫药物的使用、狗驱虫治疗的频率、家庭屠宰和内脏处理。从 300 只狗中采集了个体粪便样本，在进行初步的宏观检查以发现成虫和/或孕节之后，进行了粪便显微镜检查。然后根据 Allan 等人（1992 年）描述的方案提取粪抗原，并在-20°C 下储存直至使用。使用三种不同的 ELISA 粪抗原检测试剂盒检测棘球蚴的粪可溶性抗原：（a）基于对成虫排泄/分泌（E/S）抗原的多克隆抗体的市售 Chekit Echinotest（Bommeli，Bern，CH）；（b）使用针对成虫 E/S 抗原的兔多克隆抗体和针对多房棘球绦虫体提取物的生物素化单克隆抗体 EmA9 的夹心 ELISA（Malgor 等人，1997 年）；（c）使用针对成虫 E/S 产物免疫的单克隆抗体 EgC3 的夹心检测法（Casaravilla 等人，2005 年）。问卷结果表明，所有农场都进行了家庭屠宰，内脏用作狗的生食（17%）或煮沸后（37%）的食物，丢弃在垃圾中（23%），或浅层掩埋（15%）。大多数农民（69%）声称给狗驱虫，但只有 10%使用驱虫药物。使用沉淀、浮选和三种不同的粪抗原（CA）ELISA 对 300 只农场犬进行的粪检显示，带绦虫卵的粪便流行率为 8.3%，而 CA 检测的流行率分别为 3%（Chekit Echinotest，Bommeli）、6%（EmA9 夹心 ELISA）和 10%（EgC3 夹心 ELISA）。我们的结果表明，这不仅是一个教育问题，也是一个经济问题，强调未来的控制计划应采用包括兽医和医疗服务、农民、养殖者协会和政府在内的综合方法。
