IDFG “White Paper” Response to Concerns About Wolves Introducing New Strain of H

[wolfbait]

IDFG “White Paper” Response to Concerns About Wolves Introducing New Strain of Hydatid Disease
By George Dovel

 
During the third week in January, I received a copy of the following well-circulated email from Idaho Dept. of Fish and Game Panhandle Region Supervisor Chip Corsi to the Panhandle Region employees he supervises:
“Some of you may have seen the latest from George Dovel’s “The Outdoorsman”.  Based on Mark’s (IDFG veterinarian Mark Drew) assessments (attached), human health risk is quite low, provided you avoid consuming things like canid feces and uncooked organs; and I think suggests Dovel’s interpretation is more than a bit sensationalized.  If you are handling wolves or coyotes, wear gloves.  Risk to humans does not appear to be any greater than with other parasites found in wildlife that we, and hunters/trappers, routinely handle.”
At the risk of being accused of using this page for a personal rebuttal, I shall point out that here’s a biologist who drew $84,000 in wages plus liberal benefits in FY 2009, yet who is willing to ignore biology in order to divert attention from the real issue.  By concealing the fact that a new strain of E. granulosus tapeworm was contaminating tens of thousands of square miles of Idaho during the past four years, IDFG caused irreparable harm.
It put an unknown number of Idahoans at risk of being infected with a new strain of hydatid disease, including the Panhandle Region IDFG employees under Corsi’s supervision.  The Department’s warning to wear gloves resulted from the truth finally being exposed, but it came four years too late. And Corsi’s inference that we must eat canine feces to become infected has generated emails from veterinarians in several states asking if Idaho biologists are really that dumb.
IDFG Officials Ignore CDC Warning
The National Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta issued a fact sheet on Aveolar Echinococcocis (AE), the other variety of Echinococcocis disease that also exists in Montana, and is spread to humans by the E. multiclocularis tapeworm which infects rodents and humans rather than big game and humans. The fact sheet, dated September 23, 2004, includes the following warnings applicable to both tapeworms whose eggs look exactly the same and are spread in exactly the same fashion:

•Don’t touch a fox, coyote, or other wild canine, dead or alive, unless you are wearing gloves.
•After handling pets, always wash your hands with soap and warm water.
•Do not collect or eat wild fruits or vegetables picked directly from the ground. All wild-picked foods should be washed carefully or cooked before eating.
“Because wild coyotes, foxes, and wolves are being trapped and transported to states where E. multilocularis has not previously been found, there is increased risk of spreading the disease to animals and humans.”
IDFG “White Paper” Claims Potential for Human Exposure is “Relatively Low”
In the “White Paper” provided to the Idaho Legislature by IDFG Veterinarian Mark Drew and the Idaho Dept. of Agriculture, the view that Hydatid disease does not represent a serious threat to residents of Idaho and Montana mirrors the opinion expressed by Dr. Robert Rausch.  In several published papers he considers the disease a threat only to indigenous (native) people who live with dogs in unsanitary conditions.
Rausch, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, was the expert who identified the parasites in the study of Idaho and Montana wolf lower intestines conducted by Drew, Foreyt et al.  He also participated in the review of 101 cases of cystic hydatid disease in Alaska published in 1968 by Wilson et al discussed in another article in this issue.
If you have already read that article, you will recall the authors in the Edmonton and Winnipeg reviews of medical case histories were critical of the 1968 study because the subjects had no symptoms and were not seeking medial treatment.  Like them, most people infected with hydatid disease have the cysts growing inside them for 10-15 years before they either grow large enough to create problems or rupture.
During that extended period the cysts can be described as “benign” but eventually some of them will become painful and a few will cause sudden death.  Unless an autopsy is performed the real cause of death may never be known.
On January 25, 2010 I emailed a copy of the “white paper” provided to the Legislature to Dr. Valerius Geist and asked for his comments.  The following is his response which should be read carefully by everyone:

[wolfbait]

Dear Friends,
The important point about Echinococcus granulosus is not that it is a threat to hunters or biologists in the field, as spreading a bit of sensible know-how about proper sanitary measures will reduce chances of infections.
The problem with hydatid disease is that it is transmitted to dogs in rural areas, and that sanitary measures   then   are   difficult   to   implement.   When  the
 of elk and deer with hydatid cysts exceeds half the population, then ranch dogs are at risk picking up the disease as the chances are high that they will feed when not supervised on dead deer and elk or on offal left by hunters.
Unbeknown to their owners the infected dogs begin to fill the yard with tapeworm eggs in an ongoing fashion. Even if the dog is not allowed into the house, people walking through the yard will carry the eggs into the house with dirt on their boots.
In any such house raising children, toddlers will be crawling on the floor and they will gather dust and dirt on their hands and put their hands in their mouth. Therefore wherever you have deer or elk around farms, ranches and hamlets, and wherever in such abodes there are dogs roaming about, there is a high probability that tapeworm eggs will be brought into homes continually. It is also hard to imagine such dogs not getting petted.
Since hydatid disease is a silent disease that takes time to develop, there is not likely to be a problem till a number of people down the road are affected seriously. Once detected, even the sylvatic form of E. granulosus is likely to lead to surgery – no insignificant medical intervention even if quite successful.
Some cases will be fatal because cysts do implant in the brain, even if most implant in the lungs and liver. We need to get on with deciphering how this disease can be eradicated in our game herds.
In Finland it was achieved, till colonizing wolves brought it once more from Russia. Since the much worse E. multilocularis is spreading in the NW and resides in coyotes, coyote hunters need to be informed to take sensible precautions.

The claim by Montana FWP Veterinarian Deborah McCauley that she doesn’t believe the Echinococcus tapeworm will have any harmful effect on the Montana’s elk herds, ignores numerous research in other states, provinces and countries indicating that the increase in parasite infestation inevitably results in predators killing far more of the prey species.

 
Saskatchewan Research by Joly and Messier found when hydatid cyst infestation increased in moose lungs, wolves killed far more moose.  (Photo courtesy Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game)

Based solely on the opinion of the Ag author of the “White Paper,” Idaho Sen. Tim Corder sent the following email message: “The increase of the wolf population does not constitute a threat to human health or domestic livestock.”  Yet a 4-fold increase in the fox population in Switzerland from 1980-1995 resulted in an emerging epidemic of deadly alveolar hydatid disease in humans.
  Idaho citizens expect their elected officials to stop repeating the unsupported opinions from bureaucrats and make sound decisions based on documented facts

[bearpaw]

Another good post wolfbait, keep up the good work of bringing the details of this issue to us.

[Sporting_Man]

Bingo! Can not be more clear than it is...
 

[luvtohnt]

Deworm your dogs, problem solved!

Brandon

[Sporting_Man]

Brandon,

Tell that to every countryside household in WA state... and if they don't, do they deserve to have their kids die?

[Axle]

Another good post wolfbait, keep up the good work of bringing the details of this issue to us.

Amen to that!

Too bad we can't get this on the evening news! 

[luvtohnt]

No one deserves to have their kids die. But if simple everyday cleanliness is maintained e.g. vacuuming, dusting, washing hands,ect.. and a simple task of worming your dogs, which any responsible pet owner does anyway, there will be nothing to worry about. Kind of like the swine flu pandemic.

Brandon

[wolfbait]

No one deserves to have their kids die. But if simple everyday cleanliness is maintained e.g. vacuuming, dusting, washing hands,ect.. and a simple task of worming your dogs, which any responsible pet owner does anyway, there will be nothing to worry about. Kind of like the swine flu pandemic.

Brandon

You betcha Bradon, I would like to give you the job of telling the mommies your ideas when their children end up catching some disease that was caused by the stupid ass USFWS bringing in a none native wolf to the lower 48.  Knowing all the time the dangers of people catching some nasty little bugs that can kill them or make them sick as hell. Do you think it is no big deal sort of like the Ed Bangs.

[mulehunter]

Wolfbait, I wouldnt worry about them. Allow themself get sick themself But Be prepared yourself Wolfbait like I would now.

Mulehunter 

[bearpaw]

For anyone living in rural areas (especially with pets or livestock), or anyone who spends a lot of time in the woods, this is a real concern. 

Let's set aside the speculation, see these links for info about the disease:
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=17734
http://washingtonwolf.info/diseases.html

62% of the wolves tested in Idaho and 63% in Montana are infected with thousands of these worms. One can fairly assume that holds true for the majority of the wolf population in those states. The wolves here in NE WA that were caught were genetically proven to have come from MT. (63%) So I would think it's very likely NE WA wolves will be infested.

I have already warned taxidermists I know to be careful. I can't help but think about the pictures of the wardens and bio's handling those Pend Orielle wolves. I woinder if they knew about this parasite? 
see photo here, left side: http://washingtonwolf.info/