Meredydd Jones, an 86-year-old farmer from Trecastle in Powys, says he lived with slow-growing cysts caused by a tapeworm for years without knowing anything was wrong until he experienced the worst pain of his life. He was diagnosed with hydatid disease, a rare condition that is a particular risk to sheep farmers, and later had two operations in 2018 and 2019 to remove cysts from his lungs.
Jones thinks he had lived with slow-growing cysts on his lungs for years before his diagnosis. A pioneering Aberystwyth University research project will now track sheepdogs via GPS in an effort to understand how common the disease is in mid Wales.
What happened when Meredydd Jones went into hospital?
Jones remembers the night in May 2016 when he went into hospital after feeling unwell and staying at home instead of going out to a dinner with his wife Eileen. He said the pain became impossible to control and was unlike anything he had felt before.
“I hadn't been able to control the pain, and it was more intense than anything I had before.
“Then about midnight, we had to call the ambulance, and they took me to Nevill Hall. Whatever they gave me there cured the pain. I haven't experienced pain like that before.”
He was in hospital for 10 days and said doctors suspected immediately that he had hydatid cysts.
Jones said there had been a lot of the disease in the area at the time and he remembered the Ministry of Agriculture giving worming treatment to dogs on local farms.
“There was a lot of it around this area at the time, and I remember the Ministry of Agriculture giving worming treatment to the dogs on the local farms.
“Whether they could see that I was an old sheep farmer or not, that might have had a bearing on it. We had plenty of experience in this area – Breconshire as a whole – of hydatid cysts, people that have suffered through it, numerous examples.”
He was then referred to what he described as “the main expert on hydatid cysts” in London, where he had two operations in 2018 and 2019 to remove them, one from each lung.
“I swapped two cysts for two scars on the ribs,”
Jones also said he still has a cyst on his liver, which surgeons decided not to remove.
“it doesn't bother me one bit.”
What is hydatid disease?
Hydatid disease can be passed from dogs to humans. Public health campaigns about 25 years ago highlighted the importance of regular worming treatments and hand hygiene after handling animals.
Researchers say there is recent evidence of hydatid disease appearing again in sheep and dogs. Public Health Wales (PHW) says that although it is uncommon in Wales, it remains “a significant public health concern because of the potentially serious health consequences for affected individuals”.
Dr Chris Williams, a consultant epidemiologist with PHW, said it can be very serious for humans and explained how the tapeworm spreads between farm animals and dogs before eggs are passed out by dogs.
“It can be very serious for humans. It's caused by a tapeworm, and what happens is normally the tapeworm transmits between farm animals like sheep and cows to dogs, (and) the dogs excrete eggs.
“Unfortunately, if humans ingest the eggs, usually from dogs, that can then form cysts within humans, which are very unpleasant, cause swelling, pain, etc. and require surgical treatment.”
He added that symptoms may not appear for 10 or 20 years.
“So we need to address the problem early on at the point where we're starting to find it in dogs and carcasses rather than waiting for human cases.”
The tapeworm that causes the disease is considered endemic in mid Wales because of the prevalence of sheep farming in the area.
Dr Gwenllian Rees, from Aberystwyth University's School of Veterinary Sciences, is supervising research that will study human-dog interactions and analyse faecal samples. She said it is important to understand current levels of the disease in mid Wales, the risks to farmers and the way it is being transmitted, or not transmitted, in Wales at present.
“It's really important for us to understand the levels of this disease in mid Wales at the moment, the risks to farmers, and the way that this disease is being transmitted or not at the moment in Wales.”
Researchers are fitting GPS trackers on sheepdog collars to monitor where the dogs go across the landscape.
PhD researcher Keira Washtell said the collars will show exactly where the dogs move, including whether they go into other farms or into different farm dogs' areas.
“They will ping off a signal showing us exactly where the dog is - where that dog has moved across the fields, whether they're going into other farms, moving into different farm dogs' areas potentially,” she said.
“By doing that, we can get an idea or an understanding of potentially how the disease, and how tapeworms are actually moved across the landscape.
“The dog has to actually ingest the cysts, so there will be infected parts of the tissue from a dead or fallen ewe or ram.
“The hope is that by tracking their movements, it'll give you clues if that has actually happened.”
Jones, who is still active on the farm, continues to walk the hills and work with sheepdogs at 86 years old.
The project aims to help researchers understand how tapeworms spread across farms and whether infected material from dead or fallen sheep may be involved in transmission.
