TY - JOUR T1 - Genetic Diversity of the Cestode Echinococcus multilocularis in Red Foxes at a Continental Scale in Europe A1 - Knapp, Jenny A1 - Bart, Jean-Mathieu A1 - Giraudoux, Patrick A1 - Glowatzki, Marie-Louise A1 - Breyer, Isabelle A1 - Raoul, Francis A1 - Deplazes, Peter A1 - Duscher, Georg A1 - Martinek, Karel A1 - Dubinsky, Pavol A1 - Guislain, Marie-Hélène A1 - Cliquet, Florence A1 - Romig, Thomas A1 - Malczewski, Andrzej A1 - Gottstein, Bruno A1 - Piarroux, Renaud Y1 - 2009/06/09 N2 - Author Summary Echinococcus multilocularis is a tapeworm of the red fox, which represents a considerable health threat to respectively infected humans. Main endemic areas are located in China, Siberia, and central Europe. Alarmed by an emerging or reemerging situation in Europe, the question of how the parasite gets spatially and temporally spread and transmitted becomes essential to prepare appropriate control programs. The question was tackled by using genetic data on a large sample size of E. multilocularis adult stage tapeworms, combined with geographical site location data input. The historically documented endemic area, represented by the northern Alpine arch, was shown to harbour the highest genetic richness and diversity, as compared to surrounding areas in northern and eastern Europe. The spatial and temporal spread of different E. multilocularis genotypes in Europe seems to be ruled by a founder event, linked to exportation of parasites from the central core to newly identified (western and eastern) areas or subregions, where these parasites could subsequently disseminate under geographical separation from the original foci. JF - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases JA - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases VL - 3 IS - 6 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000452 SP - e452 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000452 ER -