DOI: 10.5061/dryad.k22kg
title: Data from: Assessing individual patterns of Echinococcus multilocularis infection in urban coyotes: non-invasive genetic sampling as epidemiological tool

description: 1. In epidemiological studies of wildlife parasites, faecal genotyping has
 been introduced to prevent bias in estimates of parasite prevalence from
 faecal samples collected in the field. Such an approach could be
 particularly relevant in the study of Echinococcus multilocularis
 transmission in urban settings, where estimates of prevalence and patterns
 of infection in wild canid hosts are key parameters used in zoonotic risk
 assessment and management. However, no previous study has evaluated the
 reliability of E. multilocularis faecal prevalence, and individual
 patterns of infection in definitive hosts remain poorly understood. 2. We
 evaluated faecal genotyping as an epidemiological tool, using E.
 multilocularis in urban coyotes Canis latrans as our study system.
 Combining parasitological analysis and multilocus individual genotyping of
 coyote faeces, we compared faecal parasite prevalence with the prevalence
 obtained from genotyped faecal samples. Furthermore, we assessed patterns
 of individual infection, such as re-infection rates and phenology of
 parasite egg excretion. 3. Of 425 feces collected in five urban sites, we
 genotyped 142 samples (33.4%) corresponding to 60 unique individual
 coyotes. Number of genotyped samples per coyote ranged between 1 and 10
 (mean = 2.3). Genotypes were obtained at 4–6 microsatellite loci and had a
 mean reliability of 0.9975. 4. Faecal prevalence of E. multilocularis in
 genotyped coyotes was 25.0%, and similar to results previously obtained
 from non-genotyped faeces. Faecal genotyping allowed estimating a
 re-infection rate of individual coyotes of 57.1%, and to observe temporal
 patterns of parasite infection that were not detected using non-genotyped
 faeces. 5. Synthesis and applications. If compared to independent data
 obtained through coyote post-mortem examination, our results suggest that
 reliable estimates of overall parasite prevalence in definitive host
 populations can be efficiently obtained through well-designed field
 collection and traditional faecal parasitological analysis. However,
 faecal genotyping allows assessing the dynamics of individual infections,
 which could otherwise only be estimated by using invasive techniques.
 Combining faecal genotyping with parasitology has a great potential in
 assessing zoonotic risk transmission in urban areas, as well as advancing
 the field of wildlife ecology, disease ecology and conservation.
description: genotype
 reliabilityData obtained through
 genetic analysis softwares for assessing genotype reliability (reliotype
 input and output summary)genotype
 identificationData obtained through
 genetic analysis software for genotype regrouping and identification
 (Gimlet input and output files)genotype
 consensusData obtained through
 genetic analysis software to identify consensus multilocus fecal genotype
 (Gimlet input and output files)population
 sizeData obtained through
 genetic analysis software to estimate population size through genotype
 rarefaction curve (Gimlet input and output files)