Back when I was in veterinary school I don’t recall ever being taught about Echinococcus multilocularis and that wasn’t even that long ago. It appears this “new” and dangerous parasite has really taken up shop recently and now poses a huge risk not only to dogs but to their owners as well (apparently at least 3 human cases since 2014!!). These parasites have been found in foxes and coyotes, if our dogs eat anything contaminated by infected feces (or infected rodents) they can develop cystic lesions, usually on their livers (but can spread to other organs). Their (our dogs) feces also becomes infective and can get into us. In both scenarios this parasite can cause severe and fatal damage to the liver.

Living with animals poses a unique situation for human health. While the benefits to mental health are well documented as well as the beneficial effects to physical health, there are some risks present. Infectious diseases take many forms, viruses, bacteria, and parasites (and prions for the big disease nerds). There are those that take up in very specific hosts and those that aren’t so picky. Zoonotic diseases are the latter, they don’t much care who they get. The use of proper hand hygiene, deworming, and vaccinations are some of the ways we manage this risk of disease.

Risk is always a hard thing to make decisions on. A condo dog that never sees much grass is arguably at very low risk of getting bitten by a tick. BUT what happens when they do get bit? Ticks have been documented to hitch rides on birds and be dropped in random places not known for ticks. So this dog who had a “low risk” now has been bitten and develops clinical signs of Lyme disease and needs costly treatment. Where with prevention this most likely wouldn’t happen. I guess my argument is, risk and probabilities are great until it in YOUR animal. And if it is YOUR animal an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Now the stakes are even higher because it is not only your pets health but yours and your family’s health that comes into play when we consider zoonotic diseases. If you aren’t deworming please start, if you aren’t using flea and tick prevention please start, if you aren’t vaccinating,…….sigh,……

If you’d like to read more about this new threat my past professor Dr. Peregrine spoke with CBC. Or a brief article here.