title: Cystic echinococcosis: Future perspectives of molecular epidemiology.
abstract: Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) has been considered to be caused predominantly by Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto (the dog-sheep strain). Molecular approaches on CE, however, have revealed that human cases are also commonly caused by another species, Echinococcus canadensis. All indices for classification and standardization of CE pathology including available images, epidemiology, diagnostics and treatment are currently based largely on a mixture of infections which include at least E. granulosus s.s. and E. canadensis. Involvement of other species of Echinococcus in CE including E. ortleppi or otherwise cryptic diversity demonstrated recently in Africa requires further elucidation. Molecular identification of the causative species in CE cases is essential for better understanding of pathogenesis and disease. This article stresses the importance of molecular species identification of human CE as a foundation for re-evaluation of evidence-based epidemiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa 078-8510, Japan. Electronic address: akiraito@asahikawa-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa 078-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.affiliation: Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Immunobiology Program, Faculty of Medicine, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, and HUSLAB, Division of Clinical Microbiology, P.O. Box 21, Finland.
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lavikainen
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, US National Parasite Collection, Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hoberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D004446:Echinococcus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology
keywords: Cystic echinococcosis; Echinococcus canadensis; Echinococcus felidis; Echinococcus granulosus sensu stricto; Echinococcus ortleppi; Molecular identification