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Brief report prevalence of Echinococcus species in wild foxes in parts of Qinghai Province, China

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Abstract

Echinococcosis, caused by tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus, is a zoonotic parasitic disease. Various Echinococcus spp. are endemic and distributed in the Qinghai Province of China. Currently, few studies on the prevalence of Echinococcus spp. in the wild foxes are available. Hence, the aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of Echinococcus spp. in wild foxes in highly endemic areas of Qinghai Province, China. A total of 600 wild canid fecal samples were collected from Yushu, Qilian and Guinan in the study region, and 521 samples were successfully molecularly identified as wild foxes (Tibetan fox: 448, red foxes: 70, corsac fox: 3). Among the wild foxes, 5.57% (29/521) tested positive for Echinococcus spp. The prevalence rates of Echinococcus spp. in wild foxes in the Yushu, Qilian and Guinan areas were 2.51%, 15.22% and 0.96%, respectively. Furthermore, sequencing analysis indicated that E. multilocularis was the most prevalent species, occurring in 4.03% (21/521) of the wild foxes. Compared to E. granulosus occurring in 0.58% (3/521) of the foxes, E. shiquicus occurred in 1.54% (8/521), and E. shiquicus was first reported with 2.17% (3/138) prevalence in the Qilian area, indicating its transmission range is expanding. The current results provide useful epidemiological data for understanding and monitoring the dissemination of Echinococcus spp. by wild foxes in Qinghai Province, China.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the veterinarians for aiding in sample collection.

Funding

This study was funded by the following organizations and initiatives: The Transformation Project of Science and Technology of Qinghai Province (2018-NK-104), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31860700) and the Applied Basic Research of Qinghai Province (2021-ZJ-724).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Academy of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Qinghai University, 810016, Xining, China

    Xueyong Zhang, Yong Fu, Yijuan Ma, Zhihong Guo, Xiuying Shen, Zhi Li & Hong Duo

  2. Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogen Diagnosis for Animal Disease and Green, Technical Research for Prevention and Control, 810016, Xining, China

    Xueyong Zhang, Yong Fu, Yijuan Ma, Zhihong Guo, Xiuying Shen, Zhi Li & Hong Duo

  3. Chengduo County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station, 815101, Yushu Prefecture, China

    Gengqiu Jiunai

  4. Guinan County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station, Hainan Prefecture, 813100, China

    Xiaohong Wang

  5. Qilian County Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Station, Haibei Prefecture, 810499, China

    Wan Maji

Authors
  1. Xueyong Zhang
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  2. Yong Fu
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  3. Yijuan Ma
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  4. Zhihong Guo
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  5. Xiuying Shen
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  6. Zhi Li
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  7. Gengqiu Jiunai
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  8. Xiaohong Wang
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  9. Wan Maji
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  10. Hong Duo
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Contributions

XYZ, YF, and HD conceived the study and wrote the manuscript. XYZ, YJM, ZHG, XYS and ZL carried out the experiments and analyzed the data. GQJN, XHW and WMJ contributed to the collection of the fecal samples. XYZ, YF, ZL, ZHG and HD contributed material, discussions of the results and to the final version of the manuscript. All authors provided critical feedback.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong Duo.

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Declarations

The fecal samples of wild animals were collected strictly, according to the legal requirement guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Ministry of Health, China and the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Wildlife Protection. No animals were harmed during the experimental process

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zhang, X., Fu, Y., Ma, Y. et al. Brief report prevalence of Echinococcus species in wild foxes in parts of Qinghai Province, China. Vet Res Commun 47, 947–952 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-10012-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11259-022-10012-x

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