Open Thread – December 5, 2012

Hydatid Disease Medical Reports

Was it a conspiracy, a terrorist act or stupidity that introduced a diseased animal species to the Northwest?

By Harvey Neese, The Eagle & Boomerang, March 1, 2010 [here]

Was it some kind of a conspiracy involving various government agencies/organizations to introduce an animal species with potentially dangerous diseases to the Northwest area? After introduction of Canadian wolves to the Northwest area carrying the Hydatid disease, the government organizations and so-called expert biologists responsible for the introduction have kept very mum on the Hydatid malady introduced by them.

If the biologists in the various agencies responsible for importing this disease to the Northwest had strange sounding foreign names and long beards and taking into account the potential long term financial and health costs to livestock, wildlife and humans in a large sector of the U.S., this might be dubbed a “Terrorist Act” and U.S. security agencies would be actively involved.

It has been reported that a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who was previously employed in Alaska where the Hydatid disease had been known for many years, was transferred to this wolf dumping project in the Northwest. Really now, we are to believe he did not realize the potential undesirable ramifications of introducing this disease to the Northwest area with some 15 times more population than in prevalent areas in Alaska? Either he’s from another planet or this has to be stupidity at its height! Trying to cover up for this incompetence, the Idaho Fish and Game Dept. is now saying the disease was in the area several decades ago, so it is now okay to reintroduce it or a different strain to the Northwest. How much more idiotic thinking will this project lead to?

What are the ramifications of introducing a disease carrying animal species, as Canadian wolves infested with Hydatid tapeworm disease, to large public land areas, numerous farms and ranches with livestock and families throughout the area alongside some larger cities? This is an area that is inhabited by a high percentage of people who hunt, fish and recreate in the forest areas where wolves are now multiplying.

The chances of infection spreading from wildlife species to domestic animals and humans who have never been confronted with the Hydatid disease before now is highly probable. Livestock and pets can become infected as well as big game species. Fish and game departments will begin losing revenue because of fear by hunters and outdoors people of becoming infected. Whatever the motives were (and are), the biologists are succeeding beyond expectations of burdening the people of the Northwest senselessly.

What is Hydatid disease and how serious is it for humans? Below are several case histories in Canada.

From: Shlomo Leviav, MD; Dov Weissberg, MD, FRCSC, FACS, FCCP. 1996. Traumatic rupture of hydatid cysts. Canadian Journal of Surgery 1996; 39: 293-296. See [here].

4 Case histories (Hydatid cysts)

Case 1 (Similar to Cases 2,3 and 4):

A 21-year-old student of physical education received a blow to the abdomen during a soccer game. Because of acute abdominal pain, exploratory laparotomy was performed 4 hours after the accident. The main finding was a ruptured hydatid cyst of the splenic flexure of the colon. The cyst communicated with the lumen of the colon and was infected. There was widespread peritonitis. In addition, two intact hydatid cysts were found in the liver, each one more than 10 cm in diameter. The splenic flexure was resected, the distal segment of colon was closed and a colopexy of the descending colon done; a proximal colostomy was established. Both cysts in the liver were unroofed. The fibrous pericysts were suture-plicated and drained. One week after the operation the patient’s temperature rose to 39 ƒC. A subphrenic abscess on the right side was diagnosed and was drained through a subcostal incision. Antibiotics were administered parenterally. Six months later the ends of the colon were reanastomosed and the colostomy was closed. The patient was followed up for 12 years and did well.

Did the so-called biologists involved in the introduction take necessary precautions and conduct tests based on available information before the introduction? The answer is a resounding “NO” although Hydatid disease has been documented in Alaska and Canada for many years. Dr. V. Geist, a renown Canadian wildlife biologist, warned about the introduction of the disease numerous times but no one apparently took him seriously to this day.

George Dovel, Editor of The Outdoorsman, wrote the following:

Feb-March 2006, The Outdoorsman: “If we generate dense wolf populations it is inevitable that such lethal diseases as Hydatid disease will become established.”

Dec. 2009, The Outdoorsman: “My first Outdoorsman article on Hydatid disease caused by the tiny Echinococcosis granulosus tapeworm was published nearly 40 years ago. Back then we had many readers in Alaska and northern Canada where the cysts were present in moose and caribou, and my article included statistics on the number of reported human deaths from these cysts over a 50 year period….”

21 Apr 2010, 1:27pm
by Cure For Diseases