French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), Nancy Laboratory for Rabies and Wildlife, Technopôle Agricole et Vétérinaire, BP 40009, 54220 Malzéville, France.
Vet Parasitol. 2013 Oct 18;197(1-2):283-7. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2013.05.003. Epub 2013 May 14.
Nutrias (Myocastor coypus) and muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are large invasive semi-aquatic or aquatic rodents, naturalized throughout Europe. They are regarded as pests, and can be infected with several pathogens and parasites transmissible to wildlife, livestock, pets and humans. As a rule, in Europe the life cycle of the cestode Echinococcus multilocularis involves red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) as main definitive hosts and common voles as intermediate hosts. The suitability of nutrias and muskrats as intermediate hosts has already been described. Here, we investigate the occurrence of E. multilocularis in the context of a wide-scale health study on nutrias and muskrats in 12 "départements" in the western part of France. During the sampling period, a total of 817 aquatic rodents were trapped in five rivers or ponds in each "départements". During post-mortem examinations, lesions were observed on the livers of 21 nutrias and 104 muskrats, and analyzed by PCR and sequencing of the mitochondrial cox1 gene for specific identification. Several non-zoonotic parasites were identified: Taenia taeniaformis, Taenia mustelae, Taenia polyacantha and Taenia martis. Four livers from 2 nutrias and 2 muskrats exhibited E. multilocularis infection. One of the muskrats was infected with fertile E. multilocularis lesions. The 4 animals came from 3 French "départements" where foxes have recently been found to be infected by E. multilocularis. These results lead us to consider nutrias and muskrats as relevant bioindicators for the presence of E. multilocularis in this environment. Our results also suggest that, when listed as pests and targeted by large trapping campaigns, nutrias and muskrats could be used to detect the presence of E. multilocularis in areas considered free of this parasite.
海狸鼠（Myocastor coypus）和麝鼠（Ondatra zibethicus）是大型入侵半水生或水生啮齿动物，已在整个欧洲归化。它们被认为是害虫，可能感染几种可传播给野生动物、家畜、宠物和人类的病原体和寄生虫。通常，在欧洲，多房棘球绦虫（Echinococcus multilocularis）的生命周期涉及红狐（Vulpes vulpes）作为主要的终末宿主和普通田鼠作为中间宿主。海狸鼠和麝鼠作为中间宿主的适宜性已经被描述过。在这里，我们在法国西部 12 个“départements”的海狸鼠和麝鼠大规模健康研究的背景下调查了多房棘球绦虫的发生情况。在采样期间，总共在每个“département”的五条河流或池塘中捕获了 817 只水生啮齿动物。在尸检检查期间，在 21 只海狸鼠和 104 只麝鼠的肝脏上观察到病变，并通过 PCR 和线粒体 cox1 基因测序进行了分析，以进行特异性鉴定。鉴定出几种非人畜共患寄生虫：带绦虫、麝鼠带绦虫、多房棘球绦虫和马丁带绦虫。4 只来自 2 只海狸鼠和 2 只麝鼠的肝脏显示感染了多房棘球绦虫。其中一只麝鼠感染了多房棘球绦虫的成熟病变。这 4 只动物来自法国的 3 个“départements”，最近在那里发现狐狸感染了多房棘球绦虫。这些结果使我们认为海狸鼠和麝鼠是该环境中多房棘球绦虫存在的相关生物指标。我们的结果还表明，当被列为害虫并进行大规模诱捕时，海狸鼠和麝鼠可用于检测被认为没有这种寄生虫的地区是否存在多房棘球绦虫。
