The Relationship between Hepatic Grayish White Solid Nodules Found in Horses Brought to a Slaughterhouse in Fukuoka Prefecture and Larval <i>Echinococcus multilocularis</i> Infection

Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Echinococcus multilocularis from horses raised in Canada or Japan, using mitochondrial cytochrome b gene–targeted PCR

“…According to our previous report ( Hifumi et al, 2021 ), cases that had laminated layers histopathologically and tested positive for cob PCR testing or cases that did not have laminated layers histopathologically and tested positive for cob PCR testing were diagnosed with alveolar echinococcosis.…”

“…According to a previous report from Japan, larval E. multilocularis infections in horses likely originated in Hokkaido, which is a major production area for horses, and alveolar echinococcosis is endemic ( Goto et al, 2010 ; Hifumi et al, 2015 ). These results suggest that the slaughtered horses originating in Japan with alveolar echinococcosis in this study had been infected by larval E. multilocularis in Hokkaido.…”

“…Alveolar echinococcosis has been reported in slaughtered horses in Japan ( Goto et al, 2010 ; Ueno et al, 2012 ) and Poland ( Tomczuk et al, 2020 ). Previously, we investigated cases of grayish-white hepatic solid nodules found in horses slaughtered in Japan and demonstrated larval E. multilocularis infections suspected to have originated in Japan ( Hifumi et al, 2015 ) or Canada ( Hifumi et al, 2021 ).…”

“…In previous reports, alveolar echinococcosis was mainly identified in slaughtered horses, with a definitive diagnosis based on the results of histopathological examination and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing ( Goto et al, 2010 ; Hifumi et al, 2015 ). PCR testing targeting mitochondrial DNA can determine the characteristic geographical patterns of various parasitic diseases ( Khan et al, 2020 ; Nguyen et al, 2020 ).…”

“…For E. multilocularis , there are a number of reports on genetic examinations of isolates from the definitive and intermediate hosts, and these reports have included strain typing ( Nakao et al, 2009 ; Gesy and Jenkins, 2015 ; Wu et al, 2017 ). However, the only previous investigation on strain typing in equine hosts was our earlier report on horses imported into Japan from Canada ( Hifumi et al, 2021 ). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the haplogroups of E. multilocularis obtained from horses raised in Japan and Canada based on the obtained cob sequences.…”