Shared landscapes, shared risk: Echinococcus multilocularis infection in coyotes is linked to agricultural land and altered green space in a major U.S. metropolitan area

Abstract

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE), caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis, is among the most lethal zoonotic helminthic diseases affecting humans. Historically rare in North America, human and canine AE cases have risen sharply over the past decade, coinciding with the spread of a more virulent European-type haplotype and the emergence of coyotes (Canis latrans) as a principal definitive host in and around urban centers. Despite growing recognition of E. multilocularis as an emerging public health concern, the host- and landscape-level factors that concentrate infection risk within urban environments remain poorly understood. We used monitoring data from the Chicago metropolitan area to assess E. multilocularis prevalence and test demographic and land cover predictors of infection among urban coyotes. Fecal samples from 85 coyotes were screened via real-time PCR, and land cover association with E. multilocularis infection within individual home ranges or capture-based buffers was investigated using generalized linear models. Overall, 27.1% of coyotes were infected. Infection status was unrelated to age or sex, but coyotes with a greater proportion of agricultural land or altered open land cover, such as golf courses, cemeteries, and manicured parks, within their home ranges had significantly higher odds of infection (ORagriculture = 2.84; ORaltered open spaces = 2.07). These landscapes are also heavily used by people and domestic pets, suggesting elevated potential for zoonotic spillover in human-dominated areas rather than natural or forested habitat. Our findings identify specific, human-accessible landscapes that sustain E. multilocularis transmission in a major U.S. metropolitan area and provide a framework for prioritizing surveillance, targeted anthelmintic intervention, and public health outreach in expanding urban coyote populations across North America.