Experimental evaluation of mink and Apodemus speciosus in the Echinococcus multilocularis life-cycle in Hokkaido, Japan.

The epizootiological status of mink (Mustela vison) as definitive hosts and Apodemus speciosus as intermediate hosts in the transmission of Echinococcus multilocularis in Hokkaido, Japan, were evaluated by orally inoculating mink with protoscoleces, and A. speciosus with eggs of the cestode, respectively. No tapeworms were recovered from the alimentary tract of the mink, and no hydatid cysts were recovered from the viscera of the egg-inoculated A. speciosus. We conclude that mink and A. speciosus cannot serve as definitive hosts and intermediate hosts of E. multilocularis, respectively, in Hokkaido.