Echinococcus
tsmith | June 16, 2012This is the fifth of 16 student posts, guest-authored by E. Jane Kelley.
Did you know that some dogs might have a tapeworm in their small intestine that can cause the development of large cysts in people’s livers, lungs, and brains? This is not very common in the United States currently, though there are cases reported periodically (2), but in some areas of the world it is a huge problem. An infection that can spread from animals to humans or vice-versa is called a zoonotic infection.
The tapeworm is called Echinococcus granulosus and the cystic disease it causes is called hydatid disease (…