Insidious hazard: foxes are increasingly moving into urban settings in their search for food in garbage bins. In doing so, they are bringing a dangerous disease pathogen closer to man: the fox tapeworm.
Foxes are cunning hunters and, above all, very adaptable. They can increasingly be found prowling through city gardens and parks, ransacking garbage bins in their search for food. And many of these animals are carriers of the dangerous fox tapeworm, which can then also spread to humans. This parasite mainly infests the liver and lungs but also the brain. Its larvae then gradually destroy the organs.
Large-scale field study
Experts therefore want to combat the parasite before it even comes into contact with humans. Bayer developed the effective worming agent praziquantel as early as the 1970s. Bayer researchers are now collaborating with the Technical University in Munich in a large-scale study to test effective distribution methods for prepared fox bait. You can read more about the new combination strategy here.