Dr. Murai Éva - Gubányi András szerk.: Parasitologia Hungarica 28. (Budapest, 1995)

© Hungarian Natural History Museum Hungarian Society of Parasitologists Parasit. hung., 28: 43-56, 1995 Occurrence and epidemiology of Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis in the Covasna County, East Carpathian Mountains, Romania Sándor SlKÓ BARABÁSI,

1 Elvira BOKOR,

1 Éva FEKEÁS,

1

* Imre NEMES,

1 Éva MURAI

2 and András GUBÁNYI

2 1 Veterinary Directorate of Covasna County, 4000 Sf. Gheorghe Str. Ciucului, No. 149, Romania 2

Zoological Department, Hungarian Natural History Museum, 1088 Budapest, Baross utca 13, Hungary (Received 20 October, 1995) Abstract: In the period between 1981 and 1990 the epidemiological data of Echinococcus granulosus and E multilocularis (Cestoda, Taeniidae) were studied in the subalpine region of the East Carpathian Mountains, Covasna County, Romania. The definitive hosts of £ granulosus are dogs: 15.4% of2,993 Canis

familiáris examined were infected. The intermediate hosts are domesticated and wild ungulates: 23.3% of 209,670 cattle; 19.5% of 290,300 sheep; 6.9% of 375,720 pigs; 1.9% of 514 red deer, 6.8% of 88 roe-deer; 22.0% of 635 wild boars and 3.1% of 32 bears were infected with hydatid cysts of E. granulosus. The red fox, which is the final host of Echinococcus multilocularis (535 specimens), as well as the farmed silver fox (1,418 specimens) were found to be uninfected. Metacestodes of E multilocularis were found in 0.0015% of the cattle and 0.45% of the 422 small rodents examined (2 Microtus nivalis). This is the first record of alveolar echinococcosis from the Carpathian Region in Romania. Key words: Echinococcus granulosus, E. multilocularis, Cestoda, Taeniidae, hydatidosis, alveolar echinococcosis, epidemiology, East Carpathian Mountains, Romania INTRODUCTION In the past few decades, the epidemiology of echinococcosis has been studied by Arseni (1981), Olteanu and Panaitescu (1984), Nesterov et al. (1973, 1991), and Stefànoiu (1991) in Romania. According to the results, Echinococcus granulosus (Batsch, 1786) has reached a nationwide spread and is responsible for a variety of severe health problems in both animals and humans. Olteanu and Panaitescu (1984) expect the occurrence of E. multilocularis Leuckart, 1863 We should like to dedicate this paper to the memory of our colleague Dr. Éva Fekeas, who departed this life during the preparation of this work