Echinococcus granulosus in Australia, widespread and doing well!

Abstract

Echinococcus granulosus is the only member of the Genus Echinococcus to occur in Australia. The major biomass of E. granulosus occurs in wildlife. The wildlife transmission cycle is predominantly perpetuated via a predator/prey interaction between wild dogs (dingoes and dingo/domestic dog hybrids) and macropodid marsupials (wallabies and kangaroos). Other wildlife hosts include foxes, wombats and feral pigs. This wildlife reservoir for E. granulosus "spills over" to help maintain a domestic cycle through E. granulosus-infected wild dogs defecating on pasture, transmitting infection to livestock and some farmers and hunters feeding hydatid-infected offal of macropodids or feral pigs to domestic dogs. The potential transmission risk to humans using public picnic and camping areas in parks and forests, especially in the southeastern Australia, could be substantially reduced through regular distribution of baits containing praziquantel. Encroachment of wild dogs and foxes into urban centers presents a new potential path of transmission from wildlife to humans.