Alveolar Hydatid Disease in a Chipmunk

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4 Responses

  1. Just wanna admit that this is extremely helpful, Thanks for taking your time to write this.

  2. Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful post. Thank you for providing this information.

  3. Kelly Mitchell says:

    Have had 2 chipmunks with what i think is this disease. One has stopped comjng around assumed dead. One is still coming all day. Is it easily passed from one to another. I have several that come all at same time.

    • Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative says:

      Hi Kelly, thanks for your question.

      The parasite, Echinococcus multilocularis, is not passed between small mammals. Small mammals are the intermediate host for this parasite and become infected when they ingest eggs which are shed in the feces of infected foxes or coyotes (small mammals forage for undigested seeds in the feces of foxes and coyotes). When these infected small mammals are eaten by coyotes or foxes the parasite completes its life cycle and develops into an adult worm in the intestine of the fox or coyote.

      Echinococcus multilocularis can also infect humans and dogs who ingest infective eggs. Please visit our webpage “Echinococcus multilocularis in Ontario” at https://www.emultiontario.com/ for more information about the parasite and how you can protect yourself and your pets.

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