Country dogs and human behaviour: current status of hydatid transmission in eastern Australia

Authors: Lievaart JJ, Jenkins DJ, Boufana B, Lett WS, Bradshaw H, Armua-Fernandez MT
Publication: Proceedings of the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) Annual Conferences, Volume 2014 AVA Annual Conference, Perth, Issue Public Health, May 2014
Publisher: Australian Veterinary Association

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Abstract: There have been no recent studies to determine the current prevalence of intestinal helminths in Australian rural domestic dogs. Previous studies relied on flotation and identification of eggs microscopically. Reliable specific identification of nematode eggs is possible for a number of species, based on egg morphology. However, with taeniid cestode eggs (Taenia and Echinococcus), this is not possible as the eggs of all species are morphologically identical. Following the development of new molecular methods, namely PCR and DNA sequencing, eggs of taeniid cestodes recovered from faeces can now be readily identified from extracted DNA. Also copro-PCR can identify cestode DNA in dog faeces. However, unreliable results may be obtained due of the presence of inhibitors in the faeces of some dogs.

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