Wolves and Tapeworms
According to a new study available in the October issue of the Journal of Wildlife Diseases, three-millimeter-long tapeworms known as Echinococcus granulosus, are documented for the first time in gray wolves in Idaho and Montana. And the authors didn’t just find a few tapeworms. It turns out that 62% of Idaho gray wolves and 63% of Montana gray wolves tested positive. The researchers wrote: “The detection of thousands of tapeworms per wolf was a common finding.” This leads to the interpretation that the E. granulosus parasite rate is fairly widespread and established in the Northern Rocky Mountain wolves.
posted by Dr. Charles R. Shawley at 7:59 AM
2 Comments:
Is this going to be an epidemic? Is this something that will spread to the coyote?
Only time will tell. In theory, it could be spread to the coyote, but I cannot answer for sure.
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