The origin of a new focus of infection with Echinococcus granulosus in Tasmania.

ABSTRACT

Hydatid cysts were discovered in cattle on King Island, north of Tasmania, where Echinococcus granulosus was thought to have been eradicated. Using enzyme electrophoresis, isolates from King Island were compared genetically with isolates from Tasmania and the mainland of Australia. The genetic distinctness of the King Island isolates make it unlikely that they originated from a recent introduction from either Tasmania or mainland Australia. Alternative possibilities, that the infection resulted from a recent introduction from another source or from previously undetected persistence of E. granulosus on King Island, could not be distinguished from available data.