A preliminary experiment was conducted using eggs of E. sibiricensis obtained at the routine autopsy of a series of foxes, Alopex lagopus, collected on St. Lawrence Island during December 1953. These carcasses had been frozen by exposure to outdoor temperatures prior to shipment from the island and, during a delay en route at Nome, Alaska, had been exposed to temperatures as low as -40° C. After arrival at Anchorage, the carcasses were stored outside the laboratory for 6 weeks before the examination was undertaken. During this period the temperature ranged from 5° C. to -37° C. At the time of the autopsies, the carcasses were allowed to thaw for about 12 hours at room temperature. Gravid proglottids of E. sibiricensis, obtained from each of 3 carcasses, were fed separately to 3 field voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus. Examination of these voles at the end of 2 weeks disclosed that all harbored alveolar larvae of E. sibiricensis. In view of this evidence that eggs of E. sibiricensis can survive prolonged exposure to variable and extreme cold, experimental studies were subsequently conducted under known conditions of temperature and exposure time.
Notes
Cited in: Fortuine, Robert. 1968. The Health of the Eskimos: a bibliography 1857-1967. Dartmouth College Libraries. Citation number 930.