The House environment committee on Wednesday issued a warning to caregivers, breeders and dog trainers following several reported cases of tapeworm (echinococcus) in Kampos tis Tsakistras, in the Nicosia district.

“It is a disease that affected animals in previous decades in Cyprus, causing serious problems to livestock farming,” committee member and Akel MP Nikos Kettiros said, adding that livestock farmers in the area should be particularly careful as the disease was particularly contagious.

The game and fauna service together with the veterinary service had reportedly informed the committee about the tapeworm cases after they had been detected in stray dogs.

Committee member and Diko MP Chrysanthos Savvidis claimed that the dogs came from the north, adding that the last time the disease was recorded in animals was in 1970.

“We call on professional breeders to be particularly careful, but also on people who train dogs in the area to be particularly careful,” Savvidis stressed.