Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40025062›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2025

New evidence from the northern Apennines, Italy, suggests a southward expansion of Echinococcus multilocularis range in Europe.

Salvatore Andrea Cafiero, Luca Petroni, Luca Natucci, Orlando Tomassini, Thomas Romig, Marion Wassermann, Chiara Rossi, Heidi Christine Hauffe, Adriano Casulli, Alessandro Massolo

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Winter is coming … How the hoarding behaviour of rodents fosters the persistence ofInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2026
    Article
  2. Annual assessment ofEFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2026
    Article
  3. Article
  4. The European Union One Health 2024 Zoonoses Report.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2025
    Article
  5. Parasite diversity in grey wolves (International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025
    Article
  6. Chasing intermediate hosts ofInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025
    Article
  7. Annual assessment ofEFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2025
    Article
  8. Genetic diversity and genotyping ofFrontiers in parasitology · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Salvatore Andrea CafieroEthology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Luca PetroniEthology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Luca NatucciEthology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Orlando TomassiniEthology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Thomas RomigParasitology Unit, Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
Marion WassermannParasitology Unit, Institute of Biology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
Chiara RossiConservation Genomics Research Unit, Centre for Research and Innovation, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy.
Heidi Christine HauffeConservation Genomics Research Unit, Centre for Research and Innovation, Fondazione Edmund Mach, San Michele all'Adige, Italy.
Adriano Casulli *Department of Infectious Diseases, European Union Reference Laboratory for Parasites (EURL-P), Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. adriano.casulli@iss.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9183-7591
Alessandro Massolo *Ethology Unit, Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. alessandro.massolo@unipi.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6333-4281

Funding

European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) no. 101144113: "Work programme 2023-2024 of EU European Reference Laboratory for the Parasites (EURL-P)"European Union - Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 1 Project CarNet-PAR I53D23003240006European Union - Next Generation EU, Mission 4 Component 1 Project # I53D23005560001Ministry of University and Research (MUR) PON 2014-2020 "Research and Innovation resources - Green/Innovation Action - DM MUR 1061/2022
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Echinococcus multilocularis (Em) is a neglected zoonotic cestode circulating among wild canids and voles across the northern hemisphere, and is the aetiological agent of alveolar echinococcosis in humans. The expansion of the European distribution of this parasite has been raising public health concerns in recent decades. We aimed to investigate the occurrence of Em and other taeniids in wild carnivore faeces in the Apuan Alps Regional Park and the Monte Pisano mountain chain (northern Tuscany), a few hundred kilometres from the nearest report of Em in Italy. Using standard flotation-sieving and nested PCR of partial cox1 sequences on single harvested Taeniid eggs, we detected several Em haplotypes in red foxes and grey wolves in both study areas, suggesting limited genetic diversity. However, these findings could not be confirmed using more sensitive qPCR probes from the same samples. In addition, we report eggs of Taenia krabbei and T. hydatigena from wolves, Dipylidium caninum and Mesocestoides sp. in foxes, and T. polyacantha and Mesocestoides litteratus in both foxes and mustelids. Further investigation of the distribution of Em in the northern Apennines is necessary to assess if the presence of this potentially lethal zoonotic parasite is stable and expanding southward.

Indexed as

EchinococcosisEchinococcus multilocularisAnimalsFecesFoxesHaplotypesItalyWolvesCanis lupusFaecal PCRFlotationGrey WolfRed FoxTaeniaVulpes vulpes

Identifiers

PMID40025062
PMCPMC11873164

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.