Echinococcosis, toxocarosis and toxoplasmosis screening in a rural community in eastern Kazakhstan.

Objective: To determine the extent of carnivore-transmitted parasitic zoonoses in a community in eastern Kazakhstan, a region where cystic echinococcosis (CE) re-emerged in recent years.

Methods: Cross sectional ultrasound study of 3126 human subjects to determine the extent of human cystic and alveolar echinococcosis (AE). Blood samples were taken from each subject and analysed for antibodies against Echinococcus, Toxocara and Toxoplasma spp.

Agricultural restructuring and gastrointestinal parasitism in domestic ruminants on the rangelands of Kazakhstan.

In order to evaluate the epidemiology of parasitism in farmed ruminants in the changed agricultural context in Kazakhstan, 505 cattle, sheep and goats were surveyed for gastrointestinal parasitism using coprological examination, and a further thirty sheep and four goats using post mortem extraction of helminths. The dominant helminth genera were Marshallagia, Nematodirus and Trichostrongylus. Haemonchus was also present.

Present situation of cystic echinococcosis in Central Asia.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by Echinococcus granulosus has always been an endemic disease in central Asia. During the period of Soviet Administration up to 1991, human surgical incidence rates tended to be relatively low with perhaps at most 1-5 cases per 100,000 per year. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the New Independent States there has been profound economic and social changes.

Distribution and ecology of Echinococcus multilocularis in Central Asia.

Much of Central Asia is characterized by an arid landscape. Foci of Echinococcus multilocularis have a very patchy distribution. This is due to a significant deficiency of moisture in the superficial layers of the ground and is related to the types of animal colonies.

Helminths of saiga antelope in Kazakhstan: implications for conservation and livestock production.

Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) graze extensively on livestock pasture, potentially enabling transmission of a wide range of parasitic helminths between saigas and domestic ruminants. Thirty-six of the 38 species of helminth that have been found in saigas in Kazakhstan in the past have been found also in domestic livestock. We examined 133 saigas culled for meat in autumn 1997, and found three species of cestode and 12 nematodes (nine in the abomasum), but no trematodes or lungworms.