Preliminary data on Echinococcus granulosus (Batsch, 1786) in dogs from Lombardia and Marche regions (Northern and Central Italy).

The present research aims to assess by CA-ELISA the presence of Echinococcus granulosus in definitive host from Lombardia and Marche regions, and it takes part in an ampIe project on echinococcosis in Italy. One hundred twenty-eight faecal samples of dog (of which 62.5% from farrns and 37.5% from owners) were collected from Marche (n=106 shared between the provinces of Macerata and Ancona) and Lombardia (n=22, shared between the provinces of Milan, Pavia and Lecco). Out of 128 samples, 107 dogs were negative (83.6%), 9 samples were ambiguous (7%), 12 resulted positive to E. granulosus by CA-ELISA test (9.4%), of which 5 dogs were from Macerata and Ancona provinces and 7 dogs from Milan and Lecco provinces. Through our investigations by CA-ELISA, we have obtained the first records on E. granulosus in definitive hosts, in Marche and Lombardia. The frequence percentages of positive dogs to Echinococcus coproantigen were 4.72% and 31.8% on total samples examined in Marche and Lombardia, respectively.