Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher Doctor David Jenkins has swapped the Australian bush for snow-covered Alaska.
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He is sharing his expertise in parasites in wildlife in Alaska as part of a push to raise awareness of hydatid disease and control in native communities.
Dr Jenkins, a senior research fellow at CSU’s Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, gave seminars at the veterinary school at the University of Alaska.
“Hydatid disease is serious and potentially fatal condition in humans which occurs when tapeworm eggs cause cysts in vital organs such as the liver and lungs,” he said.
“People get infected with tapeworm eggs from contact with the faeces of an infected dog.
“In Alaska, just as in Australia, wildlife plays a key role in the life cycle of this parasite.
“The disease was identified as a problem in native Alaskan communities in the 1950s as people were infected through domestic dogs that had been fed offal infected with hydatid cysts.”