Tapeworms and Wolves OH MY!!

May 16, 2010

The anti-wolfers are raging with the NEXT big wolf scare issue.

They’ve just made a startling discovery. Are you ready? Some wolves carry tapeworms. OMG what a shock!! Canines carry tapeworms??

I hate to break it to all the haters foaming at the mouth about tapeworms but DOGS carry tapeworms, so do foxes and coyotes.

CANINES carry tapeworms!

There are 72 million dogs in the United States alone and many of them carry tapeworms. At most there are 5500 wolves in the lower forty-eight, if you combine the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes wolf population.

So if wolf haters want to get worried and scared about tapeworms or the big scary Latin word they like to throw around, Echinococcus granulosus, then they better start worrying about the canines they already live with, since they are far more likely to come in contact with dogs then wolves.

Does it ever end with these people? Talk about hysteria. How long have we been living with dogs??

Here’s the spine-chilling details. Better break out your dog worming medications!!

More about Echinococcus tapeworms in dogs

Posted on October 8, 2008 by Maureen Anderson

Echinococcus granulosus is a tapeworm of dogs that causes a condition known as hydatid disease or hydatidosis in humans.  The parasite is found in many parts of the world, and is very common in some regions of southern South America, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, southwestern Asia, northern Africa and Australia.  To the best of our knowledge, E. granulosus does not occur in southern Ontario, but it is present in other parts of Canada including the western provinces and northern Ontario.  A related, but much nastier, tapeworm called Echinococcus multilocularis is much less commonly found in North America. (*which is carried in foxes, coyotes, dogs and cats.)

A previous Worms & Germs post described what is known as the sylvatic cycle of Echinococcus granulosus, which is thought to be a common route of infection for dogs in Canada.  In the sylvatic cycle, dogs become infected with Echinococcus by eating the internal organs (usually lungs and liver) of wild game such as moose and caribou.  The dogs then pass tapeworm eggs in their stool, which can cause infection in other wild animals (thus continuing the cycle) or in people who accidentally swallow the eggs.  In humans, Echinococcus forms slow-growing cysts (called hydatid cysts) in different organs of the body which can be very difficult to remove or treat in some cases.

Echinococcus also has a pastoral or domestic cycle.  In this cycle, dogs acquire the parasite by eating the internal organs of infected sheep, and sometimes other livestock such as cattle and swine.  This cycle is potentially very important in areas where there is a lot of sheep farming.  In some areas of Latin America, 20-95% of sheep at slaughter may have evidence of hydatid cysts in their organs.

It is much more difficult to tell when a dog is infected with Echinococcus compared to other tapeworms such as Taenia or Dipylidium.  An adult Echinococcus is tiny – only a few milimetres long (see picture right), very unlike the long, stringy white tapeworms that most people picture.  Dogs can carry hundreds, even thousands of these tiny tapeworms without showing any signs of illness at all.  The eggs can sometimes be difficult to detect on fecal examinations, and when they are seen they cannot be differentiated from Taenia eggs.  Nonetheless, this is still the best way to detect infection, so fecal examinations should be performed regularly.

Remember:

• In areas where Echinococcus is known to exist, it’s important to have your veterinarian perform fecal examinations on your dog’s stool more frequently than the usual once-a-year, because of the serious zoonotic potential of this parasite.
• Always wash your hands well after handling dog stools.
• Do not let your dog eat uncooked meat, or the organs from farm animals or wild game.

http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2008/10/articles/animals/dogs/more-about-echinococcus-tapeworms-in-dogs/

*italics mine

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Dog Photos: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Posted in: Wolf Wars, wolf intolerance, Dogs

Tags: deworming, dogs, tapeworm, wolf hysteria, wolf persecution