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MISSOULA - Echinococcus granulosus...Its scientific name is lengthy, but in reality, and especially in length, it's not. The tapeworm is a mere three millimeters long, but since it's linked to the wolf, it's causing a huge ruckus.

The headlines are frightening to some, not so much to others. Though around for decades in sheep, wolves and coyotes, the parasite recently came to greater light in a study published in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases. It stated that 38 of 60 wolves examined in Montana, and 39 of 63 in Idaho, had echinococcus granulosus.

"The tapeworm does exist in larvae form in wolves and its shed in feces or skate. Eggs can be in the environment or on vegetation that could easily be eaten by domestic livestock or wild ungulates and it develops into a cyst in ungulates like deer, elk and moose or domestic livestock" explained Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Wolf Coordinator Carolyn Sime.

That cyst can be deadly as it grows in an animal and spreads to others, but how much of a danger there really is, depends on who you talk to. "I've heard it called the new AIDs of North America. A lot of people are over-exaggerating commented Ed Bangs.

"It's not a disease to fool around with multiple infections when there are multiple cysts in the body" commented Val Geist.

The two do agree it can be dangerous, even fatal to humans, since both know someone who died from the tapeworm. For Bangs, it was a young man in Alaska and for Geist, his grandfather in Russia.

In both cases, domestic dogs acquired the disease by eating the infected liver or lungs of downed, diseased ungulates. But the degree of danger to humans from infected animals, especially dogs, is where they differ.

"Once infected it begins to infect the yard and inside the house as well" Giest said. "Toddlers crawl around and get their hands dirty with dust and the eggs and suffer infections which are extremely dangerous disease."

"Humans are not its natural host. The chance of getting infected are extremely low and if you just wash your hands after handling canids, you'll be fine" countered Bangs.

We talked to the lead researcher of the study, William Foreyt from Washington State University who said that, "The media overplayed all this:,

Whatever the case, because of the outcry and the finger-pointing, both Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and Idaho Fish & Game released echinococcus granulosus fact sheets. The goal is the more people know, the better off they'll be.