Potentially deadly tapeworm can affect dogs and humans alike - TheSpec.com

Potentially deadly tapeworm can affect dogs and humans alike - TheSpec.com

Potentially deadly tapeworm can affect dogs and humans alike - TheSpec.com

Posted: 15 Apr 2019 12:00 AM PDT

WATERLOO REGION — Dogs and humans can be infected by a potentially deadly tapeworm that University of Guelph researchers say is now in southern Ontario, including Waterloo Region.

The tapeworm, Echinococcus multilocularis, wasn't thought to be present in Ontario until five sick dogs from the west side of Lake Ontario — in the Golden Horseshoe area — were identified between 2012 and 2016.

One of the infected dogs was from Guelph, said Andrew Peregrine, a professor at Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College and one of the authors of a published study on the tapeworm's presence in the province.

After the cluster of infections was found, Peregrine and the chief medical officer of health for the Guelph area spoke up.

"She said, 'You folks have got to map where this parasite is in Ontario because, at the moment, it's not on the radar of any physicians because we're not supposed to have it in Ontario,'" he said.

At that point, the tapeworm was known to exist in the southern part of the Prairie provinces and in bordering states but not in Ontario, he said.

"Unlike the tapeworms that typically occur in dogs and cats, this one is really nasty," Peregrine said, adding that it can cause disease of the liver and, if left untreated, can spread to other organs and cause death in dogs and humans.

From 2015 to 2017, Peregrine and a team of researchers tested 460 foxes and coyote carcasses in southern Ontario and Waterloo Regionfor the tapeworm. The carcasses were from licensed hunters and trappers and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Of those tested, 23 per cent were infected; in Waterloo Region, three of the 12 carcasses that were tested were infected.

"Now we've got clear evidence it's widespread in southern Ontario," Peregrine said. "The concern about that is now that it's a very common infection in foxes and coyotes, it's very likely it will spill over into dogs."

And if it spreads to dogs, it can potentially infect their human companions.

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