Echinococcosis - Epidemiology

Epidemiology

E. granulosus is present virtually worldwide since there are very few countries that are considered to be completely free of E. granulosus. An important fact to keep in mind is that the areas of the world where there is a high incidence of infection by E. granulosus often coincide with rural, grazing areas where dogs are able to ingest organs from infected animals.

E. multilocularis mainly occurs in the Northern hemisphere, including central Europe and the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. However, its distribution was not always like this. For instance, until the end of the 1980s, E. multilocularis endemic areas in Europe were known to exist only in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. But during the 1990s and early 2000s, there was a shift in the distribution of E. multilocularis as the infection rate of foxes escalated in certain parts of France and Germany. As a result, several new endemic areas were found in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria and surrounding countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, and Italy. While alveolar echinococcosis is not extremely common, it is believed that in the coming years, it will be an emerging or re-emerging disease in certain countries as a result of E. multilocularis’ ability to spread.

Unlike the previous two species of Echinococcus, E. vogeli and E. oligarthus are limited to Central and South America. Furthermore, infections by E. vogeli and E. oligarthus (polycystic echinococcosis) are considered to be the rarest form of echinococcosis.