[Epidemiology of alveolar echinococcosis in France. 1. Intestinal helminths in the red fox (Vulpes vulpes L.) from Haute-Savoie].

In the course of an epidemiological survey concerning the alveolar echinococcosis and its causative agent, Echinococcus multilocularis, the autopsies of 150 wild red foxes captured in the department of the Haute-Savoie between December 1983 and August 1988 disclosed 139 cases of intestinal helminthiasis with cestodes and nematodes; no trematode was found. Multiple infections were frequent. The cestoda recorded consist of the following species: Taenia crassiceps: 44 cases (29%); Echinococcus multilocularis: 34 cases (23%); Taenia polyacantha: 22 cases (14%); Mesocestoides litteratus: 7 cases (4.6%); Amoebotaenia paradoxa: 1 case (0.6%). The Nematoda concerned are: Uncinaria stenocephala: 79 cases (52%); Toxocara canis: 67 cases (44%); Toxascaris leonina: 16 cases (10%); Trichuris vulpis: 12 cases (8%); Pterygodermatites affinis: 8 cases (5%); Trichostrongyloidea sp.: 5 cases (3%). The animals were not examined for Trichinella spiralis. The results are compared with those observed anteriorly in the province of Auvergne (France).