Effectiveness of ultrasound in sheep as a monitoring tool for the long-term control of cystic echinococcosis

IF 2.2 2区农林科学 Q2 PARASITOLOGY

Veterinary parasitology Pub Date : 2025-09-16 DOI:10.1016/j.vetpar.2025.110610

Beatrice Mercaldo, Maria Chiara Alterisio, Antonio Bosco, Antonio Di Loria, Elena Ciccone, Sergio Esposito, Laura Rinaldi, Paolo Ciaramella, Jacopo Guccione

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Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of ultrasound (US) in sheep compared with the necropsy (gold standard) as an in-vivo monitoring tool used in a long-term control program of cystic echinococcosis (CE). The study involved 10-randomly-selected farms, divided into a Treated-Group (TG, n = 5, receiving a control protocol for CE) and a Control-Group (CG, n = 5, no protocol), enrolled over 6-years in an endemic area of southern Italy. All sheep of ten farms destined for slaughter underwent liver and lung US followed by necropsy, during the study period. From a total of 1’175 sheep, 50.0 % (593/1’175) belonged to the TG and 49.5 % (582/1’175) to the CG were enrolled. Overall, the US showed a Sensitivity (SE) of 87.9 %, a Specificity (SP) of 72.3 % as well as a positive- (PPV) and negative-predictive-value (NPV), and Accuracy of 74.4 %, 86.7 %, and 79.7 %, respectively. A moderate Cohen’s Kappa-Coefficient (K=0.599) were also detected between the two techniques. The generalised linear mixed model showed that distribution (p < 0.001) and type of lesion (p < 0.001) significantly influence the US performance. The higher SP and PPV in CG likely result from a greater disease prevalence and presence of older lesions; the higher NPV in TG might reflect the beneficial effects of the control program and lower disease exposure. Although technical and logistical challenges have to be addressed for its use, a US conscious integration into continuous surveillance program might promote the early in vivo identification of infected farms, limiting necropsy dependence for CE monitoring.

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超声对绵羊囊性包虫病长期控制的监测效果。

本研究旨在评价超声（US）与尸检（金标准）作为囊性包虫病（CE）长期控制项目体内监测工具的有效性。该研究涉及10个随机选择的农场，分为治疗组（TG, n = 5，接受CE的对照方案）和对照组（CG, n = 5，无方案），在意大利南部的一个流行区注册6年。在研究期间，10个屠宰场的所有羊都进行了肝脏和肺部检查，然后进行了尸检。在1'175只羊中，50.0 %（593/1'175）属于TG， 49.5 %（582/1'175）属于CG。总体而言，美国的敏感性（SE）为87.9% %，特异性（SP）为72.3 %，阳性预测值（PPV）和阴性预测值（NPV），准确性分别为74.4 %，86.7 %和79.7% %。两种方法之间的Cohen’s kappa系数（K=0.599）均为中等。广义线性混合模型表明，分布(p

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Veterinary parasitology 农林科学-寄生虫学

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

7.70%

发文量

126

审稿时长

36 days

期刊介绍： The journal Veterinary Parasitology has an open access mirror journal,Veterinary Parasitology: X, sharing the same aims and scope, editorial team, submission system and rigorous peer review. This journal is concerned with those aspects of helminthology, protozoology and entomology which are of interest to animal health investigators, veterinary practitioners and others with a special interest in parasitology. Papers of the highest quality dealing with all aspects of disease prevention, pathology, treatment, epidemiology, and control of parasites in all domesticated animals, fall within the scope of the journal. Papers of geographically limited (local) interest which are not of interest to an international audience will not be accepted. Authors who submit papers based on local data will need to indicate why their paper is relevant to a broader readership. Parasitological studies on laboratory animals fall within the scope of the journal only if they provide a reasonably close model of a disease of domestic animals. Additionally the journal will consider papers relating to wildlife species where they may act as disease reservoirs to domestic animals, or as a zoonotic reservoir. Case studies considered to be unique or of specific interest to the journal, will also be considered on occasions at the Editors'' discretion. Papers dealing exclusively with the taxonomy of parasites do not fall within the scope of the journal.