impaginato piccolo - Società Italiana di Parassitologia (SoIPa)

adic or imported cases have been observed; and countries
where this infection is unknown (Dupouy-Camet
and Peduzzi, 2004). Specific diphyllobothriasis surveillance
only exists in Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland. In
Finland, at least 20 cases are reported each year. In
Sweden, 10-50 cases are observed each year. In
Estonia, between 1990 and 1997, the number of cases
decreased from 715 to 440. In the region of the French,
Italian, and Swiss Alps, more than 35 cases have been
documented in humans. In Romania, although the historical
foci of the Danube delta were subjected to massive
treatment campaigns, cases continue to be reported.
In Poland and Lithuania, a few cases are reported
each year. Five cases were observed in Vienna between
1991 and 2003. Two cases were reported in Spain, one
of which was caused by salmon imported from an
unidentified country. Three cases were reported in
Greece. Cases, though rare, have also been reported in
Norway and the Slovak Republic. No autochthonous
human infection has been reported in the other EU
countries. The species of fish that are most commonly
infected with D. latum are perch, pike, burbot, big
white fish, charr, lake trout, and rainbow trout. The
reservoir hosts are fish-eating wild carnivorous mammals
(e.g., bears, foxes, raccoon dogs, cats, and
mustelids) and domestic and stray cats and dogs.
Taenia solium
Swine-related taenia has been eradicated from almost
all EU countries; however, some foci continue to be
reported in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Portugal, and Romania. In these countries, this parasite
is probably circulating among free-range and backyard
pigs and wild boars, yet the only available data that I
managed to obtain was on the incidence of cysticercosis
in Romania, where about 15 cases are diagnosed
annually, most of which are neurocysticercosis (C.
Cretu, personal communication). Sporadic cases of
neurocysticercosis have also been documented in other
EU countries, yet it is not known if transmission
occurred recently or in the past. In the past ten years,
nobody has succeeded in obtaining cysticerci from pigs
reared in the EU, which strongly suggests that this parasite
is rare in the EU, if it exists at all.
Taenia saginata
Given that taeniosis is not subject to mandatory notification,
its incidence is usually estimated based on the
sale of drugs for treating it. In Europe, prevalence rates
between 0.01% and 10% have been reported, with the
highest rates in Slovakia (Cabaret et al., 2002).
However, it is very difficult to compare the prevalence
rates because the studies conducted to estimate it have
had very different designs.
The prevalence of bovine cysticercosis, which is usually
estimated based on meat-inspection reports, ranges
from 0.007 to 6.8%, with great variation among countries,
regions and abattoirs (Cabaret et al., 2002).
However, these data are grossly defective, since efforts
on diagnostics are not identical from one site to another,
and data are recorded over a long period of time.
E. Pozio - Foodborne parasitic zoonoses
19
Bovine cysticercosis appears to be more common in
Eastern Europe, compared to the rest of the continent.
However, few EU countries report their data to the
OIE, these data are rather fragmentary and reliable
conclusions are difficult to make. Moreover, very few
studies report the age or breeding type of infected animals.
Dorny et al. (2000) has demonstrated that the
seroprevalence of bovine cysticercosis is positively correlated
with age, which can be explained by the fact
that infection is accidental and that the risk of exposure
increases with the age of the animals. The simultaneous
investigation of larval and adult stages in cattle and
humans, respectively, has been investigated and a good
relationship between the infections in the intermediate
and final hosts has been detected (Spearman coefficient
= 0.81, p < 0.05), suggesting that attention must be
paid to cattle infection and human faeces dispersion in
the environment (Dorny and Praet, 2007).
Taenia multiceps
In the EU, the number of documented infections in
humans is a few dozen, yet underdiagnosis exists. In
Europe, T. multiceps coenuri have been detected in
sheep in Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy,
and Romania, yet it is very likely that infection is
underreported in other countries, given that adult
worms have been detected in canides (domestic dog
and/or wolves) of Estonia, Italy, and Spain (Lloyd,
1998; Scala et al., 2007).
Echinococcus granulosus sensu latu
This is one of the most prevalent foodborne parasites in
the EU, with different species/genotypes in different
geographical regions of Europe. In countries of the
Mediterranean basin (i.e., Bulgaria, France, Italy,
Portugal, Spain, and Romania) and in Ireland and the
United Kingdom, where sheep farming prevails, the
genotypes G1, G2, and G3, which are considered as E.
granulosus s.s., are prevalent. The presence of these
genotypes also coincides with the high prevalence of
hydatidosis in humans (Romig et al., 2006). For example,
in Bulgaria, there is an average incidence of 6.3
cases per 100,000 population, with a 0.8% mortality
rate, yet the incidence can reach 27.5 cases per
100,000 population in endemic areas (i.e., in Gypsy villages)
(www.iss.it/crlp/). In Italy, the national level
incidence is 1.3 cases per 100,000 population, yet the
incidence reaches 4-8 cases per 100,000 population on
the island of Sardinia. Echinococcus equinus (G4 genotype)
is known from parts of Great Britain, Ireland,
Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and Spain (Eckert and
Thompson, 1988), and epidemiological evidence from
Great Britain suggests that it may not be infective to
humans (Thompson, 1995). Echinococcus ortleppi (G5
genotype) is adapted to transmission by cattle. The previous
cattle-based lifecycles in central Europe are attributed
to this species. Frequent records from slaughtered
animals occurred until as late as the 1980s (Eckert and
Thompson, 1988), yet in many regions the taxon is now
considered to be extinct; in Switzerland, the
Netherlands and Italy, occurrence is sporadic (Casulli et