Seasonal pattern of Echinococcus re-infection in owned dogs in Tibetan communities of Sichuan, China and its implications for control

Background: Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) and alveolar echinococcosis (AE) are highly endemic in Tibetan communities of Sichuan Province. Previous research in the region indicated that domestic dog was the major source of human infection, and observations indicated that domestic dog could have more access to intermediate hosts of Echinococcus spp.: both domestic livestock (CE) viscera and small mammals (AE), in early winter and again in spring. We hypothesized that there would therefore be a significant increase in the risk of canine infection with Echinococcus spp. in these two seasons and conducted a reinfection study to investigate this further. Methods: Faecal samples were collected from owned dogs in seven townships in Ganze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan Province, China), and Echinococcus spp. infection status was determined using copro-antigen ELISA. Dogs were sampled in April (spring), July (early summer), September/October (autumn/early winter) and December (winter) in 2009; and in April (spring) 2010. Dogs were treated with praziquantel following each of the five sample collections to eliminate any tapeworms. Information on dog sex, age and body weight was also collected. The t-test, Fisher's exact test, Poisson regression and logistic regression were used to compare means and prevalences, and to identify factors associated with infection status. Results: The proportion of female dogs was significantly lower than that of male dogs; female dogs had significantly higher (22.78 %) baseline copro-ELISA prevalence than males (11.88 %). Dog body weight, sex, age, county and previous infection status at any sampling point had no influence on the re-infection prevalence in general. Poisson regression did not found a significant influence on the re-infection prevalence due to different deworming/sampling time spans. Dogs exhibited significantly higher re-infection prevalences in spring and early summer of 2009 and in early winter between September/October and December of 2009, suggesting a higher infection pressure in these seasons comparing with other seasons. Conclusion: Following praziquantel treatment, dog body weight, sex, age, county, deworming time span and previous infection status at any sampling point had no influence on the re-infection prevalence in the region in general. The differences between re-infection prevalences were probably due to the seasonality in Echinoccocus spp. infection pressure in the region. Early winter, spring and early summer should be important seasons for optimal dog deworming intervention in these Tibetan communities.