Alveolar echinococcosis in a dog; analysis of clinical and histological findings and molecular identification of Echinococcus multilocularis

Abstract

Echinococcus multilocularis is a zoonotic tapeworm of medical and veterinary importance that occasionally infects accidental intermediate hosts causing severe disease or even death. In dogs, alveolar echinococcosis has been reported mainly in central Europe and Canada. The paper presents clinical, biochemical and histological signs of alveolar echinococcosis in a dog from Slovakia and the results of mitochondrial nad1 gene analysis. In 2016, 11-years old Siberian husky female suffering from inappetence was presented to the Veterinary Clinic in Žilina. Biochemical blood examination and blood count showed only minor changes, but abdominal ultrasonography showed the hepatomegaly and the presence of nonhomogeneous hypodense lobulated formation in the left liver lobe. Histological and molecular examinations of excided tissue confirmed the diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis of the liver. BLAST analysis of E. multilocularis nad1 gene revealed that the nucleotide sequence did not exactly match the previously identified M1 (AJ237639) and/or M2 genotype (AJ237640). In total, two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) occurred within overlapping region of nad1 gene. In the discussion, clinical and laboratory findings of the infection in other dog patients are compared and the possibilities of diagnosis and therapy of the disease are discussed.

Medicamenteuze behandeling van een Echinococcus multilocularis-infectie die een lokaal agressieve cavitaire tumor met longmetastasen nabootst bij een hond

“…The wall was partially mineralized, a feature considered typical of echinococcosis in children (Pohnan et al, 2017). In all the reported cases in the veterinary literature (Geisel et al, 1990;Deplazes et al, 2001;Scharf et al, 2004;Peregrine et al, 2012;Geigy et al, 2013;Gwada et al, 2018;Antolova et al, 2018), the most common ultrasonographic feature was a large cavitary mass within the liver. Color-flow Doppler imaging showed no visible blood flow within the lesion.…”

“…The dog presented in this case report was a young (two-year-old) adult. Although there have only been very few cases reported in domestic dogs (Geisel et al,1990;Haller et al, 1998) (Scharf et al, 2004;Heier et al, 2007;Peregrine et al, 2012;Pezelet et al, 2013 ;Gendron et al, 2015;Oscos-Snowball et al, 2015;Caron et al, 2017;Gwada et al, 2018), it seems that the condition mostly affects young adults (with the exception of an eleven-year-old, female Siberian Husky in Slovakia (Antolova et al, 2018). It is unclear whether this is due to immune pathophysiological considerations, behavioral patterns in younger dogs or to other causes.…”

“…In dogs, alveolar echinococcosis may develop through the ingestion of eggs shed by a definitive host or through autoinfection as a complication of intestinal infection. Although uncommon, cases of hepatic metacestode infections in domestic dogs have been described in Switzerland (Haller et al, 1998 ;Scharf et al, 2004;Heier et al, 2007;Pezelet et al, 2013;Gendron et al, 2015), Germany (Geisel et al, 1990;Gwada et al, 2018), Belgium (Caron et al, 2017), Slovakia (Antolova et al, 2018), and Canada (Peregrine et al, 2012;Oscos-Snowball et al, 2015). In dogs, in which alveolar echinococcosis develop within the abdominal cavity (Geigy et al, 2013;Oscos-Snowball et al, 2015;Gwada et al, 2018), the most common clinical features include progressive abdominal enlargement, intermittent inappetence and vomiting.…”

The fox tapeworm, Echinococcus multilocularis, in grey wolves and dogs in Slovakia: epidemiology and genetic analysis

“…In Slovakia, Antolová et al . (2018) employed the nad1 partial gene to molecularly characterize an isolate from a liver lesion of a Siberian husky dog from central Slovakia (GenBank accession number KY243027 in fig. 4), and found a profile identical to the major European genotype of E. multilocularis .…”

On the geographic genetic variants of the cestode Echinococcus multilocularis with reference to the original descriptions from Bowles et al. (1992) and Bowles and McManus (1993), and their use

“…Research papers and reviews with the erroneous classification originated from Asia [five studies ; 11,26,27,28,29], North America [three studies ; 11,14,20], and Europe [two studies; 25,30].…”