Keep The Worms Out Of Your Pet’s Heart! The Facts About Heartworm Disease

December 13, 2009 22:40

Keep The Worms Out Of Your Pet’s Heart! The Facts About Heartworm Disease
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Heartworm disease is a serious disease that results in severe lung disease, heart failure, other organ damage, and death in pets, mainly dogs, cats, and ferrets. It is caused by a parasitic worm called Dirofilaria immitis.The worms are spread through the bite of a mosquito. The dog is the definitive host, meaning that the worms mature into adults, mate, and produce offspring while living inside a dog. The mosquito is the intermediate host, meaning that the worms live inside a mosquito for a short transition period in order to become infective (able to cause heartworm disease). The worms are called “heartworms” because the adults live in the heart, lungs, and associated blood vessels of an infected animal.

In the United States, heartworm disease is most common along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from the Gulf of Mexico to New Jersey and along the Mississippi River and its major tributaries, but it has been reported in dogs in all 50 states.

Category:

• Health and healthcare
• Veterinary Medicine/Animal Welfare

Source:

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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