Echinococcus granulosus
1696787
219501391
2008-06-15T15:05:29Z
AlleborgoBot
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robot Adding: [[la:Echinococcus granulosus]]
{{Taxobox
| name = ''Echinococcus granulosus''
| image = Echinococcus granulosus scolex.jpg
| image_caption = ''E. granulosus'' scolex
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Platyhelminthe]]s
| classis = [[Cestoda]]
| ordo = [[Cyclophyllidea]]
| familia = [[Taeniidae]]
| genus = ''[[Echinococcus]]''
| species = '''''E. granulosus'''''
| binomial = ''Echinococcus granulosus''
}}
'''''Echinococcus granulosus,''''' also called the '''Hydatid worm''', is a [[cyclophyllid]] [[cestode]] that parasitizes the [[small intestine]] of [[canids]] as an adult, but which has important [[intermediate host]]s such as [[livestock]] and humans, where it causes [[hydatid disease]]. The adult [[tapeworm]] is about 5 [[millimeter|mm]] long and has three [[proglottid]]s ("segments") when intact. Like all cyclophyllideans, ''E. granulosus'' has four suckers on its [[scolex]] ("head"), and ''E. granulosus'' also has a rostellum with hooks.
In canids, ''E. granulosus'' causes a typical tapeworm infection, and produces eggs that are passed with the dog's [[feces]]. Intermediate hosts include herbivores such as [[sheep]], [[deer]], [[moose]], [[kangaroo]]s, and [[Wallaby|wallabies]], and any other organism (including humans) that ingests dog feces. In the intermediate host, eggs hatch into oncosphere larvae that travel through the [[blood]] and form hydatid cysts in the host's [[biological tissue|tissue]]s. These cysts can grow to be the size of a [[softball]] or [[basketball]], and may contain several smaller "balloons" inside the main cyst. In the related worm ''[[Echinococcus multilocularis]]'', the outer cyst is not present. If the outer cyst ruptures, new cysts can form at a different location in the body. Each smaller section contains several juvenile worms, and dogs may eat millions of them, resulting in very heavy infections. Hydatid cysts occur in organs like the [[liver]], [[brain]] and [[lung]]s, not in [[subcutaneous]] tissue. Though this has never been tested experimentally, it is assumed that infected animals make easier [[prey]] for canids.
Symptoms can include liver enlargement, hooklets in [[sputum]] and possible [[anaphylactic shock]] when the immune system reacts to ruptured cysts. A cyst diagnosis with [[ultrasound]], [[MRI]], or [[immunoelectrophoresis]].
[[Image:Echinococcus Life Cycle.png|left|thumb|250px|''E. granulosus'' life cycle]]
Hydatid disease is treated with surgery, taking special care to leave the cyst intact so new cysts do not form, and [[mebendazole]] over a long period of time at low dosages.
The best way to keep dogs from being infected is to prevent them from eating infected [[offal]]. The best way to avoid human infection is to avoid ingesting food or other substances contaminated with dog feces.
Diagnosis in the definitive host, the dog, is difficult by ordinary microscopy as it cannot differentiate between ''Taenia'' and ''Echinococcus'' eggs. Detection of antigens in feces by [[ELISA]] is currently the best available technique. The prevalence of ''Echinococcus granulosus'' was found to be 4.5% in [[Bangalore]], India by a study conducted by Centre of Advanced Studies in Veterinary Parasitology, Veterinary College, Hebbal, Bangalore employing this coproantigen detection technique. Newer techniques like [[polymerase chain reaction|PCR]] is also used to identify the parasite from DNA isolated from eggs or feces.
{{parasite-stub}}
[[Category:Parasites]]
[[Category:Dog health]]
[[Category:Veterinary helminthology]]
[[cs:Měchožil zhoubný]]
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[[ja:単包条虫]]
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