Fox tapeworm: How to protect yourself against the parasite

When eating berries, it can happen that we ingest the fox tapeworm.

You can find out how to minimize this risk in the article.

There is hardly anything nicer for garden fans than picking raspberries, strawberries and blueberries during a walk through the forest or through your own snack garden in summer and eating them straight away.

For a long time this was considered to be not entirely harmless, as traces of the

fox tapeworm could be

distributed

on the unwashed, deep-growing berries

.

Today, however, the situation has changed a bit and there are other things to consider.

Fox tapeworm: This is how likely it is to ingest the parasite through berries

The fox tapeworm has long been considered a specter of horror by many parents.

According to the German Nature Conservation Union (NABU), the parasite can usually be found

in the feces of foxes

.

If berries that grow close to the ground come into contact with it, there is a risk that the fox tapeworm eggs in the feces will stick to the outside of the berries.

If children or adults then

pick

the berries and eat them

without washing them beforehand

, they ingest the parasite.

Although it cannot use the body as a host,

an untreated infection with the worm leads to death

.

In addition, the infection can only be contained with medication, but the worm can no longer be removed from the body.

The disease is called alveolar echinococcosis and it sometimes takes years before an infestation of the parasite is clearly recognizable in humans.

Fox tapeworm: Distribution area southern Germany

That is why the mantra was valid for a long time: don't pick low-hanging berries!

This is still a good tip,

because other pathogens can also stick to the berries

.

But an infection with this parasite is very unlikely in Germany.

In Germany, the fox tapeworm is mainly found in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg

.

In Bavaria, people in the Munich area in particular should be careful because, according to researchers from the Weihenstephan Science Center for Nutrition, Land Use and the Environment, the chance of encountering an infected fox is 100 times higher than in the rest of Bavaria.

This is not surprising, because foxes have significantly better chances of survival in the urban area.

The fox population is therefore higher and so is the risk of catching the fox tapeworm.

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Fox tapeworm: possible transfer factors

It sounds frightening at first: The number of people infected with the fox tapeworm has doubled compared to ten years ago. But this is not a reason to panic, because there are

a total of 50 new infections per year

throughout Germany

. A very manageable number. To this day it is also unclear how a person can become infected. Because in order to get sick with a fox tapeworm infestation,

a person would have to ingest several hundred eggs of the parasite

. The berries should be really dirty and gardeners rarely eat such dirty berries voluntarily without washing them beforehand.

Researchers now suspect that most infections happen through pets:

dogs or cats that ingest the eggs through berries, grass or mice and then pass them on to humans

.

It is therefore important to regularly dewormer your pets and not to pet stray dogs or cats.

One guess is that cats and dogs excrete eggs like foxes.

As a result, the eggs then get onto the fur of the pets via detours.

If people stroke the animals, they will stick to the hands.

Fox tapeworm: Natural cycle of the parasite

If humans don't get in the way, the fox tapeworm looks for a so-called

intermediate host

.

The eggs develop in the intestines of a fox, which the fox then excretes in a place where it has already caught mice.

The mice living there eat grass and seeds on which the eggs are distributed.

The larvae of the fox tapeworm hatch in the intestines of the mice and over time bore their way through the intestinal wall and reach the liver.

In the mouse liver they develop into fins.

Infected mice are weakened so that the fox can eat them more easily.

The Finns then get back into the fox via this route and lay eggs in its intestines.

Fox tapeworm: how to protect yourself

The Federal Office for Risk Assessment advises that you always wash fruit you have picked yourself well before eating.

The Bavarian State Office for Health and Food Safety also recommends

:

• Heat collected berries, so boil, fry or bake

• Always wash hands thoroughly after gardening

• Disinfection or freezing does not kill the pathogen!

• Do not feed or stroke stray foxes

• do not touch dead foxes

So the warning not to just eat your own picked berries still applies.

But more under the aspect of general hygiene, because an infestation with the fox tapeworm is

very unlikely in most cases

.

*

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