Authors
E El-Alfy1; I Abbas1; S Saleh1; C Tamponi2; A Varcasia2; 1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt; 2 Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Italy Discussion
The cestode “Taenia multiceps” utilizes various canids as definitive hosts and a wide range of ungulates as intermediate hosts, and can circulate in both domestic and sylvatic cycles, the most common of which is the dog-sheep cycle. The parasite can cause serious losses in the sheep industry, and has a zoonotic impact. The present paper makes a significant contribution to the literature on T. multiceps since all published data on this taeniid worldwide were combined for the first time in a meta-analysis and in-silico analysis investigations. Epidemiological and genetic data on T. multiceps were collected systematically from their relevant databases (e.g., PubMed, Scopus and National Centre for Biotechnology), and were subjected to various statistical and genetic analyses. Most of surveys came from the African, Eastern Mediterranean and European countries. For definitive hosts, 11,191 dogs have been sampled worldwide with a pooled prevalence of 5.8% (4.7 – 6.9%), based on 95% confidence interval. There is a lack in surveys on dogs from some endemic areas (e.g., Sardinia, Italy). The highest prevalence was estimated for grey wolves (21.6%, 15.7 – 27.5%) and the least (2.7%, 1.5 – 3.9%) was for foxes. The intermediate hosts typically carry the larval stage “Coenurus cerebralis” in the central nervous system (CNS). Few reports that came from some African and Eastern Mediterranean countries, have documented extra-CNS coenuri in sheep and goats. Based on slaughterhouse surveys, sheep had a higher CNS-coenuri prevalence (8.8%, 7.3 – 10.3%) than goats (5.8%, 4.0 – 7.6%), but the extra-CNS coenuri were frequently detected in goats (0.3%, 0.2 – 0.4%) more than in sheep (0.0%, 0.0 - 0.1%). In either case, the difference was statistically insignificant between sheep and goats. Brains of infected animals mostly had a single coenurus that located in the cerebrum, with no statistical difference between the right and left cerebral hemispheres. Economically, T. multiceps coenurosis was detected in more than half (~ 53%) of sheep cases with neurological symptoms; this is alarming and emphasizes the importance of developing effective control strategies in the endemic areas. 
