When the Wuhan virus outbreak was first reported, enterprising tabloid editors made a speculative connection between the origin of the pathogen and the city of Wuhan’s alleged fondness for bat soup. But when the surgeons opened her up, they found instead that she had been attacked by a tapeworm of unusual character, Echinococcus multilocularis. But if there is a cancer of tapeworms, it’s probably Echinococcus multilocularis. Echinococcus multilocularis has been known in Europe for a long time, where its primary reservoir is the fox, and rodents act as intermediate host. Since tapeworms don’t normally spread directly from human to human, echinococcus lacks the Hollywood-movie terrorizing quality of the Wuhan virus.

Source: National Post January 27, 2020 19:30 UTC