The role of jackals in the transmission of Echinococcus granulosus in the Turkana district of Kenya
1981
MacPherson, C.N.L. (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London (U.K.). Dept. of Zoology) | Karstad, L. (Veterinary Research Laboratories, Kabete (Kenya). Wildlife Diseases Section)
The causative agent of hydatidosis in Kenya is Echinococcus granulosus, which is primarily maintained in a cycle between dogs and domestic livestock. A study of the disease in Turkana district, which has the highest incidence rate in the world, revealed that jackals are the only wild animals to be found harbouring the disease. The main transmission of the parasite therefore is through dog and jackal infections arising from scavenging of domestic livestock carcasses. However, there is a possibility that some of the infections found in these animals may have originated from humans. This may be especially true in the Turkana District because the people have such an extraordinarily high prevalence of the disease. Therefore, in these areas, man may not be the dead-end hosts, as in most other regions of the world. Since the main transmission of the parasite is through a dog - livestock cycle, the reduction of the infection rate in domestic animals should suppress the jackal infection rate automatically.
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