Abstract
The scraping and counting technique (SCT), with sensitivity values close to 100 %, has been the protocol recommended by global regulatory bodies for the extraction of Echinococcus cestodes from the intestines of wild carnivores. The proposed scraping, filtration and counting technique (SFCT) maintained the sensitivity (p = 0.801, α = 0.05) and increased the efficiency of sample processing. SCT had sensitivity and negative predictive value of 91 and 97 %, respectively, when compared to SFCT. The SFCT significantly decreased processing time (p = 0.0001, α = 0.05) for each sample. The SFCT took an average of 68.5 min less to quantify than SCT, as the SFCT samples consistently contained less debris. The SFCT is therefore appealing for general post-mortem surveillance, to determine if prevalence and intensity of infection are changing in an established region, or if these important parasitic zoonoses are newly established in a region or host species.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks are given to Gordie Roy and other British Columbia and Northwest Territory hunters and trappers. This research has been approved by the Animal Research Ethics Board, at the University of Saskatchewan (20090126 and 2011005), the British Columbia Ministry of Lands and Natural Resource Operations (WL10-65638) and the Government of the Northwest Territories (WL005768). All experiments comply with the current laws regarding research in Canada. Funding sources include the Canadian Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund, Public Health and the Agricultural Rural Ecosystem strategic training initiative as supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation, Saskatchewan Ministry of Health, University of Saskatchewan College of Graduate Studies and Research devolved scholarship and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine Wildlife Health Research Fund.
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Gesy, K., Pawlik, M., Kapronczai, L. et al. An improved method for the extraction and quantification of adult Echinococcus from wildlife definitive hosts. Parasitol Res 112, 2075–2078 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3371-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-013-3371-x