Debilitating Human Parasite Transmitted Via Dogs Eating Fish
upstart writes:
Debilitating human parasite transmitted via dogs eating fish:
Guinea worm disease is usually caught by drinking water containing water fleas that carry the parasite larvae.
The worms mate and grow inside the body, and after 10-14 months the one-metre-long [~40 inch] adult worm emerges, usually from the arms or legs, to shed its larvae back into water.
[...] Eradication programmes have cut human cases of Guinea worm from millions a year in the 1980s to just 27 in 2020.
[...] Targeted surveillance showed that in 2020, 93% of Guinea worms detected worldwide were in dogs in Chad, in central Africa.
Research by the University of Exeter, published today in Current Biology, has revealed a new pathway for transmission - by dogs eating fish that carry the parasite larvae. This means dogs maintain the parasite's life-cycle and humans can still catch the disease.
[The researchers] tracked hundreds of dogs with satellite tags to analyse movements, and revealed dog diets throughout the year using forensic stable isotope analysis of dog whiskers.
Much of the fish eaten by the dogs - usually guts or smaller fish - was discarded by humans fishing on the river and its lagoons.
Professor Robbie McDonald, of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute, who led the study said: "Dogs are now the key impediment to eradicating this dreadful human disease.
Journal Reference:
Cecily E.D. Goodwin, Monique Lechenne, Jared K. Wilson-Aggarwal, et al. Seasonal fishery facilitates a novel transmission pathway in an emerging animal reservoir of Guinea worm. Current Biology, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.050
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