Chart: 6 zoonoses you should know -- Roundworm infection

Common disease name

Roundworm infection

(Roundworms are large [3- to 18-cm], worms that are usually tightly coiled when passed and look like spaghetti.)

Scientific name

Dogs:Toxocara canis (zoonotic), Toxascaris leonina (not zoonotic), Baylisascaris procyonis (zoonotic)

Cats:Toxocara cati, Toxascaris leonina

Method of infection

Puppies and kittens: Transplacental, ingestion of eggs in feces

Adult dogs and cats: Ingestion of tissues of intermediate host (e.g. rodents), ingestion of eggs in feces

People: Ingestion of larvated eggs (fecal-infected soil), ocular or visceral larva migrans (Toxocara canis)

Signs

Puppies and kittens: May present with ill thrift, failure to gain weight, poor hair coat, pot-bellied appearance; pups with heavy infections may expel a large mass of worms in the vomitus at 4 to 6 months old

Adult dogs and cats: Vomiting

People: Pneumonia-like symptoms and skin staining from damage to internal organs (visceral larva migrans) and irritated retinas from damage to the eyes (ocular larva migrans)

Treatment

Dogs: Fenbendazole, milbemycin oxime, pyrantel pamoate, and combinations of febantel and pyrantel and praziquantel

Cats: Selamectin, emodepside/praziquantel, combinations of pyrantel and febantel

People most at risk

Most common in children

Prevention

• Deworm puppies and kittens when they are 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age, and give them monthly preventives as soon as the label recommendations allow.

• Promptly remove animal feces from the yard and litter box.

• Keep dogs on leashes or in fenced yards and cats indoors to help prevent ingestion of infected animals or feces.

• Monitor children playing outside in sandboxes and parks.

• Prevent transplacental transfer in dogs by treating bitches before and after whelping.