tapeworm in rabbits

[lupus]

heres a couple of pics of tapeworm cysts Dave found while prepping the rabbits for dinner last weekend. he said they are the worst he has seen,

and before you ask , no we did not eat this one:yikes:

 

[tomtom]

Wow, those are very informative images! I never realised they got so big! I sometimes worry about missing them and ending up eating one but you couldn't very well miss that could you!

Thanks for showing us, very interesting!

 

[Matt Weir]

Blimey these are informative. I was under the impression that tapeworms are gut dwellers. Is it right then that they lay the eggs in the front of the rear thigh?

 

[stevesteve]

I had a quick browse about as I didn't know much about this.

I found this (and yes, there are more images so not while you're eating )
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150_12220-26630--,00.html

It does say

Cysticercosis does not harm the meat of rabbits and hares, or make it unfit for human consumption. Adult tapeworms of these species do not occur in humans. Cysts are usually removed when rabbits are dressed out; any that might be overlooked are destroyed in cooking the meat.

Undoubtedly, many rabbits are unnecessarily discarded because hunters confuse cysticercosis with "white spots on the liver," so greatly publicized as evidence of a tularemia infection. However, the two are distinctly different, and the cysts can be readily differentiated from tularemia lesions.

There are records of human cysticercosis involving M. serialis. Such infections can only arise from swallowing the eggs passed in the feces by infected carnivores. Wildlife personnel working with foxes, coyotes, wolves, and other canids, especially if they are handling scat samples, should be careful to not expose themselves to or contaminate laboratories with tapeworm eggs.

I don't fancy it much though!
Cheers,
Steve

 

[Scrumpy]

I see it says you can still eat it but I think I'd give it a miss anyway, I'm posh like that......

 

[Matt Weir]

I see it says you can still eat it but I think I'd give it a miss anyway, I'm posh like that......

Protein is protein

 

[Silverback]

Here is another link with photos clearly showing the attachment between the muscle fibres almost identical in location to the ones Mark took for me on Saturday (these show the open cyst revealing the tapeworm heads at larval stage

http://www.unbc.ca/nlui/wildlife_diseases/taenia_multiceps.htm

 

[falling rain]

I took a rabbit home once that my dogs caught and was going to eat it but found a tapeworm that must have been about 10 inches long. Rank. I didn't eat it either.