There are many types of taenia, and all the other ones can infect humans, so what makes this type different? As I understand things, the eggs come out in the feces of the wolves and some coyotes....as the rain and the snow breaks up the feces, the eggs work into the soil. Then in the spring, the new vegetation that emerges has these eggs on it. Then the animals eat it, thus causing the larvae and worms in our wild game. My question is....can these eggs be on our wild mushrooms and huckleberries and other wild vegetation that we eat? I just want to know why humans can get all the other worms but not this particular one? We have notified fish and game before and have taken our meat to them and they said we could dispose of it but denied us another tag. What happens when you kill your game at the end of the year and no more seasons are open? What tags could you get then?
Answer:
While there are many types of Taenia spp. and other species of tapeworms in animals, including humans, the species that are found in ungulates in Idaho are not known to infect humans.
The species of Taenia found in Idaho ungulates typically have a carnivore definitive host where the adult worm lives. Eggs or proglotids with eggs pass in the feces of the carnivore and are ingested with plants by ungulates where the eggs hatch and migrate to locations where the immature tapeworm develops. The various Taenia species in Idaho ungulates are found in different locations in the body of the ungulate.
Because human stomach pH and physiology is different that wild carnivores, the parasite eggs of the Taenia spp. in Idaho wildlife do not develop in humans. Human infections with Taenia saginata, the beef tapeworm, and T. solinum, the pork tapeworm, occur around the world in areas with poor sanitation. Neither of these tapeworms are known to occur in Idaho and the majority of the United States, but there is a low prevalence in some areas of the US where food hygiene is less than ideal or where raw beef or pork products may be consumed.
It is advisable to thoroughly wash foods collected from the wild, just as would be done for vegetables purchased at a grocery store, and to thoroughly cook wild game meat to avoid the potential for infection with various pathogens.
The issue with condemnation of meat and reissuing of tags is determined at the regional level and is dependent on the infection level, the willingness of the hunter to trim meat and to turn in all parts of the affected carcass, and the status of similar hunts at the time.
Answered on:
Friday, December 13, 2013 - 2:48 PM MST