In recent years, increases in the urban fox populationhave been observed in many countries of the NorthernHemisphere. As a result, Echinococcus multilocularis hasentered the urban environment. Because of a possibleincreased risk for alveolar echinococcosis, interventionstrategies need to be evaluated. In Zürich, Switzerland, 50praziquantel-containing baits per km2were distributedmonthly in six 1-km2bait areas and one 6-km2bait areafrom April 2000 through October 2001. The proportion of E.multilocularis coproantigen–positive fox fecal samples col-lected remained unchanged in six control areas butdecreased significantly in the 1-km2bait areas (from 38.6%to 5.5%) and in the 6-km2bait area (from 66.7% to 1.8%).E. multilocularis prevalence in the intermediate hostArvicola terrestris also decreased significantly in baitedareas. This controlled baiting study shows that a pro-nounced reduction of E. multilocularis egg contamination isfeasible in urban areas where the organism is highlyendemic
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