Unlike E. granulosus, E. multilocularis produces many small cysts (also referred to as locules) that spread throughout the internal organs of the infected animal.

Wild canids, dogs, and less commonly cats act as definitive hosts, harbouring the adult stage of the tape worm.

[1] Ingestion of a rodent containing alveolar hydatid cysts by a wild canid can result in a heavy infestation of tapeworms.

As the disease progresses, the larval stage proliferates exogenously within the tissue, behaving similar to hepatic neoplasia.

Patients with human alveolar echinococcosis typically present with headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain.

[4] Humans can become an aberrant intermediate host by accidentally ingesting eggs of E. multilocularis when handling infected animals or consuming contaminated food, vegetable, and water.

The segmented worm contains a scolex with suckers and hooks that enable attachment to the mucosal wall, since tapeworms do not have a digestive tract.

A short neck connects the head to three proglottids, the body segment of the worm which contains the eggs to be excreted in the feces.

In the past, the PAS staining technique has proven beneficial in helping determine if infections are caused by Echinococcus multiocularis.

[7] Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a highly lethal helminthic disease in humans, caused by the larval form of the parasitic tapeworm E. multilocularis.

The system was developed by a retrospective analysis of records from 97 patients treated in France and Germany (2 treatment centers).

[14] Children, health care workers and domestic animals are at risk of ingesting the eggs after coming into contact with the feces of infected wild foxes.

In one case, the infection caused a grapefruit sized tumour in the lung, kidney and diaphragm, which had to be surgically removed.