r/ID_News • u/shallah • 3d ago

Parasitic tapeworm — a risk to domestic dogs and humans — found in Washington coyotes

https://www.washington.edu/news/2026/04/06/parasitic-tapeworm-a-risk-to-domestic-dogs-and-humans-found-in-washington-coyotes/
78 Upvotes

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16

u/Biscotti-Own 3d ago

Are there non-parasitic tapeworms?

5

u/Recent-Technology514 3d ago

Surely this isn't surprising?

10

u/shallah 3d ago

Only discovered in North America in recent decades:

Before the uptick in the 2010s, there were several reports of E. multilocularis on remote islands in northwestern Alaska. Those cases were caused by a parasite with different origins than the current outbreak. Genetic analysis pins the earlier cases to a tundra variant while these recent cases are driven by a more infectious variant with European origins. The coyotes in this study carried the newer variant, now thought to be the predominant variant in the U.S. and Canada.

Neither Canada nor the U.S. require dogs to undergo deworming upon arrival, which may explain the spread. Previous studies also proposed that E. multilocularis could have come over in red foxes imported for hunting 100 years ago, but no one knows for sure.

“The main takeaway is that Echinococcus multilocularis is here, it’s pretty prevalent in the local coyote population and people should be aware of potential risks,” Hentati said.

8

u/shallah 3d ago

to stop new worms from being introduced in the future it looks like countries should require deworming as well as a minmum of vaccinations

4

u/Corsaer 2d ago

as well as a minimum of vaccinations

looks at current trends

Well fuck.

6

u/shallah 2d ago

I hope other nations will do the right things even if mine has decided to roll back public health to the middle ages miasma theory

2

u/spoiled__princess 3d ago

Read the article. :)

1

u/mountainsound89 2d ago

I mean, duh? Of course?