The production of eggs by Echinococcus multilocularis in the laboratory following in vivo and in vitro development.

Adult worms of Echinococcus multilocularis produced eggs in vitro following partial development in the definitive host for 20-21 days and maturation for 8 days in a monophasic or diphasic medium. The technique was shown to be reproducible with morphologically normal eggs produced in two separate experiments. The onset of egg production in vitro was identical to that in vivo although the number of eggs produced by each worm was less in vitro.