title: Molecular identification of Taenia spp. in wolves (Canis lupus), brown bears (Ursus arctos) and cervids from North Europe and Alaska.
abstract: Taenia tapeworms of Finnish and Swedish wolves (Canis lupus) and Finnish brown bears (Ursus arctos), and muscle cysticerci of Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), Alaskan Grant's caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) and Alaskan moose (Alces americanus) were identified on the basis of the nucleotide sequence of a 396 bp region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene. Two species were found from wolves: Taenia hydatigena and Taenia krabbei. The cysticerci of reindeer, caribou and one moose also represented T. krabbei. Most of the cysticercal specimens from Alaskan moose, however, belonged to an unknown T. krabbei-like species, which had been reported previously from Eurasian elks (Alces alces) from Finland. Strobilate stages from two bears belonged to this species as well. The present results suggest that this novel Taenia sp. has a Holarctic distribution and uses Alces spp. as intermediate and ursids as final hosts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. antti.lavikainen@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavikainen
authors.forename: Sauli
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laaksonen
authors.forename: Kimberlee
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Beckmen
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oksanen
authors.forename: Marja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Isomursu
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meri
mesh_terms: D000413:Alaska / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003670:Deer / Q000469:parasitology*; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005843:Geography; D006239:Haplotypes; D007422:Intestines / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D015995:Prevalence; D013538:Svalbard / Q000453:epidemiology; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013621:Taenia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D013622:Taeniasis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001503:Ursidae / Q000469:parasitology*; D019596:Wolves / Q000469:parasitology*
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV