>>Oh yes,

>>That is so true. I don't have pathogen paranoia to any large degree but
admit
>>that every time
>>I see a tapeworm on my cats tail , I shudder. My cats eat a wild diet and
it
>>is sometimes un avoidable.
>>Only one cat gets tapeworms though.

>>Elainie
>>I


I recently had some thoughts about the issue of tapeworms myself. I
sometimes collect dandelion for my green salats and read about the threads
caused by the dog tapeworm (Echinococcus granulosus) and the fox tapeworm
(Echinicoccus multilokularis).

Infected we serve as so called inter hosts. The dog or the fox are the
final hosts.
The fully grown tapeworm an the intestine of the dog or fox produces eggs
that are then emited in the excrements of the animal. An inter host absorbs
the eggs (most important are mice for the fox tapeworm and sheep for the dog
tapeworm). There the larvas move to various organs of the infected animal
(mostly the liver) and form one or more growing cysts destroying the
infected organs. This development sooner or later will cause death to the
infected animal, which is then eaten by the final host. Voila...rotation
complete.

As I said we serve as inter hosts (accidental but nevertheless).
I found lots of info on the net (in german) about the development, fatalness
and symptomes of the "sickness". I learned that this can be a really serious
thread to our health and lifes. Infections by the fox tapeworm have to be
removed in operations where this is not possible (if too much of the organ
would have to be removed) the "patient" needs a lifetime treatment.

Most interessting questions were kept unanswered. Does everybody that
swallows or breathes in tapeworm eggs gets infected by them? Is our immun
system able to defeat these small suckers or is the defensives actions of
the larvas always too good? Does washing the greens really help? What are
the cances of getting infected after having contact with tapeworm eggs?

Lots of questions...no answers found yet (not by me)


greetz
Torsten