Recently heard a physician who essentially manages every case of this disease in Alberta give a really fascinating talk. The hepatic cysts these worms produce are very difficult to distinguish from cancer on imaging and the infection itself is staged using a PNM system not too dissimilar from cancer's TNM staging.
We'll be seeing increase in other parasites too. Strongyloides (angiostrongylus) is spreading and pretty well embedded in the food chain, with cuban tree frogs and snails as a primary carrier. Baylisascaris tends to stay with racoons, but squirrels and other critters get it too, as well as any predators that eat them. Both are every bit as bad as the fox tapeworms. Strongyloides may be functionally the worst though, because contamination of crops is much easier or probable.
All are very difficult to treat, sometimes impossible
As they become urbanized ... it seems . Based on article content ...
"...Like other previous studies, the Swiss analysis found a jump in infections starting around 2000. It's unclear what's causing this, but researchers have speculated that habitat expansion of primary host populations, an increased use of imaging in health care, and a more susceptible population may be possible explanations. In the current study, the increase in the number of cases was linked to a "substantial" increase in incidental findings of AE—that is, asymptomatic parasitic cysts were detected inadvertently during medical care. That points to increased imaging. But, in 2021, researchers in Canada reported AE as an emerging disease in Alberta, which they partly attributed to the growing urbanization of coyotes....."
Where I used to live in Paradise, foxes would eagerly come over to within 3m/10' and watch what I was working on outside.
Just remember the failsafe approach to wildlife: assume they are carriers of communicable diseases like rabies, hantavirus, anthrax,
plague, bird flu, EEEV, and rare and novel diseases unknown to most doctors or all scientific literature.
We had wild bats, crows,
vultures, woodpeckers, jays, finches, hummingbirds, eagles, turkeys, peacocks, foxes, deer, and black bear. Also, recovering and "recovering" meth addicts from a halfway house wandering down to the pharmacy 6 blocks away.
Recently heard a physician who essentially manages every case of this disease in Alberta give a really fascinating talk. The hepatic cysts these worms produce are very difficult to distinguish from cancer on imaging and the infection itself is staged using a PNM system not too dissimilar from cancer's TNM staging.
Nasty and the cure seems more like surgical and chemical follow up. [1] [2]
Being a tapeworm I would have thought ivermectin or one of the newer mectins to be very effective on its own. Apparently that's not the case [3]
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39606163/
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5055586/
[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5931691/
We'll be seeing increase in other parasites too. Strongyloides (angiostrongylus) is spreading and pretty well embedded in the food chain, with cuban tree frogs and snails as a primary carrier. Baylisascaris tends to stay with racoons, but squirrels and other critters get it too, as well as any predators that eat them. Both are every bit as bad as the fox tapeworms. Strongyloides may be functionally the worst though, because contamination of crops is much easier or probable.
All are very difficult to treat, sometimes impossible
Are a lot of people around foxes?
As they become urbanized ... it seems . Based on article content ...
"...Like other previous studies, the Swiss analysis found a jump in infections starting around 2000. It's unclear what's causing this, but researchers have speculated that habitat expansion of primary host populations, an increased use of imaging in health care, and a more susceptible population may be possible explanations. In the current study, the increase in the number of cases was linked to a "substantial" increase in incidental findings of AE—that is, asymptomatic parasitic cysts were detected inadvertently during medical care. That points to increased imaging. But, in 2021, researchers in Canada reported AE as an emerging disease in Alberta, which they partly attributed to the growing urbanization of coyotes....."
Where I used to live in Paradise, foxes would eagerly come over to within 3m/10' and watch what I was working on outside.
Just remember the failsafe approach to wildlife: assume they are carriers of communicable diseases like rabies, hantavirus, anthrax, plague, bird flu, EEEV, and rare and novel diseases unknown to most doctors or all scientific literature.
Yes. Not just foxes but coyotes, wild turkeys too have been been getting along well in suburban areas.
We had wild bats, crows, vultures, woodpeckers, jays, finches, hummingbirds, eagles, turkeys, peacocks, foxes, deer, and black bear. Also, recovering and "recovering" meth addicts from a halfway house wandering down to the pharmacy 6 blocks away.
Other canids, including dogs, may also serve as a primary host.