title: Epidemiology and strain characteristics of Echinococcus granulosus in the Benghazi area of eastern Libya.
abstract: The incidence of surgically confirmed cystic echinococcosis in eastern Libya was estimated to be at least 4.2 cases/100,000, with significantly more female cases than male. The prevalences of infection with Echinococcus granulosus among 1087 sheep, 881 goats, 428 camels and 614 cattle from the same region, determined postmortem in abattoirs, were 20%, 3.4%, 13.6% and 11%, respectively. Infection in the livestock was age-dependent and, generally, the female animals were more often infected than the male. The measurements of rostellar hooks on protoscoleces collected from sheep and cattle were similar but significantly different from the corresponding measurements of parasites of human or camel origin. However, when a portion of the cytochrome c-oxidase subunit I (cox1) gene from each of 30 protoscolex samples from Libya (12 from cattle, three from humans, five from camels and 10 from sheep) was sequenced, the sequences were all found to be identical to that published for the common sheep strain of E. granulosus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, Garyounis University, P.O. Box 17192, Benghazi, Libya. osamatashani@yahoo.com
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Tashani
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Boufana
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jegi
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: McManus
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002162:Camelus; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary; D004446:Echinococcus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D006041:Goats; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007527:Isoenzymes; D008002:Libya / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015995:Prevalence; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D007527:Isoenzymes; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051545:Cyclooxygenase 1; C496511:PTGS1 protein, human; D011451:Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV