When Man’s Best Friend Isn’t

By Jon Geller

Roundworm Infection

“You should have seen the size of the worm swimming around in that lad’s eyeball!” Dr. Bill from Western Colorado was discussing an unfortunate case where parasites from a dog had invaded and migrated throughout a young boy’s body.

Dr. Bill went on to describe how the roundworm got into the boy’s eye. It turns out that most puppies and kittens are born with or soon acquire roundworms. When the young puppies or kittens shed the eggs of the roundworm in their feces, the eggs can exist in the soil for years. Dirt ­eating toddlers eagerly scoop up the parasite-infested dirt and swallow the eggs. The ingested eggs then hatch into immature roundworms — larvae — which migrate throughout the body, somehow ending up in the ocular fluid. The sight of one of these roundworms wriggling across the anterior chamber of the eye is unforgettable.

The tale of the migrating roundworm in the toddler’s eye (called visceral larval migrans, or VLM) prompted a discussion of strategies to prevent transmission to humans. The two main strategies are aggressive de-worming of all puppies and kittens, starting at three weeks of age, and discouraging toddlers from spending time on ground where dogs and cats defecate. Obviously, good hygiene is also a must. I certainly planned to wash my hands the next time I vaccinated a puppy just before lunch.

Hookworm Infection

Everyone at the discussion felt like scratching after hearing a Florida vet describe the case of a plumber who developed a rash resembling a network of train tracks across his back. The unlucky man had been working shirtless while doing a remodeling job in the crawl space of a house.

Unfortunately, some neighborhood stray dogs had access to the crawl space and used it as their bathroom. The soil was infected with hookworm larvae, which are commonly found in the stool of young dogs.

The hookworms gained entry into the unsuspecting plumber’s back and began happily tunneling under and across his skin, causing a condition called coetaneous larval migrans, or CLM. Hookworm, like roundworm, is best avoided through aggressive de-worming of all puppies and kittens. You may also want to think twice before working shirtless in crawl spaces frequented by stray cats and dogs.

Ref: www.findarticles.com Mother Earth News June 2000