Review of Cryptosporidium and Giardia in the eastern part of Europe, 2016

Introduction: This paper reviews the current knowledge and understanding of Cryptosporidium spp. an d Giardia spp. in humans, animals and the environment in 10 countries in the eastern part of Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. Methods: Published scientific papers and conference proceedings from the international and local literature, official national health service reports, national databases and doctoral theses in local languages were reviewed to provide an extensive overview on the epidemiology, diagnostics and research on these pathogens, as well as analyse knowledge gaps and areas for further research. Results: Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. were found to be common in eastern Europe, but the results from different countries are difficult to compare because of variations in reporting practices and detection methodologies used. Conclusion: Upgrading and making the diagnosis/detection procedures more uniform is recommended throughout the region. Public health authorities should actively work towards increasing reporting and standardising reporting practices as these prerequisites for the reported data to be valid and therefore necessary for appropriate control plans.Peer reviewe

Unravelling the genetic diversity and relatedness of Echinococcus multilocularis isolates in Eurasia using the EmsB microsatellite nuclear marker

International audienceThe cestode Echinococcus multilocularis is the causative agent of alveolar echinococcosis, a severe helminthic zoonotic disease distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. The lifecycle of the parasite is mainly sylvatic, involving canid and rodent hosts. The absence of genetic data from most eastern European countries is a major knowledge gap, affecting the study of associations with parasite populations in Western Europe. In this study, EmsB microsatellite genotyping of E. multilocularis was performed to describe the genetic diversity and relatedness of 785 E. multilocularis isolates from four western and nine eastern European countries, as well as from Armenia and the Asian parts of Russia and Turkey. The presence of the same E. multilocularis populations in the Benelux resulting from expansion from the historical Alpine focus can be deduced from the main profiles shared between these countries. All 33 EmsB profiles obtained from 528 samples from the nine eastern European countries belonged to the European clade, except one Asian profile form Ryazan Oblast, Russia. The expansion of E. multilocularis seems to have progressed from the historical Alpine focus through Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and southern Poland towards Latvia and Estonia. Most of the samples from Asia belong to the Asian clade, with one EmsB profile shared between Armenia and Turkey, and two between Turkey and Russia. However, two European profiles were described from two foxes in Turkey, including one harboring worms from both European and Asian clades. Three EmsB profiles from three Russian samples were associated with the Arctic clade. Two E. multilocularis profiles from rodents from Lake Baikal belonged to the Mongolian clade, described for the first time here using EmsB. Further worldwide studies on the genetic diversity of E. multilocularis using both mitochondrial sequencing and EmsB genotyping are needed to understand the distribution and expansion of the various clades