wHAT IS A CACUSITIA PARASITE AND CAN MY KIDS GET IT?

Question

I HAVE A DOG THAT THE OWNER SAID HAD ROUND WORMS TAHT IS ALSO CALLED CACUSITA PARASITE I HAVE KIDS AND WHAT TOO KNOW IF THEY CAN GET SICK?

Answer 1

Coccidia is a totally different parasite then roundworms. If the dog was treated for the roundworms and the coccidia by a vet there will be no problems. Roundworms can be passed on to people, however if you practice basic good hygene ..handwashing, etc then there is nothing to worry about.I do recommend though that you take a stool sample in to the vet and have a fecal test done and also have it checked for coccidia to make sure they are all gone.

Answer 2

It's pretty rare but yes, thousands of people become infected with Toxocara (roundworms) in the United States per year. How do people become infected? Humans become infected when they ingest infective eggs from the soil or from their hands or another object. Large numbers of the eggs can accumulate in the soil where dogs and cats are allowed to defecate. The eggs are sticky, and can collect on the hands and under the fingernails of people. Children, and others who may not have good hygiene, are most prone to becoming infected.

Remember, Toxocara eggs need to be in the environment approximately two weeks, before becoming infective, so direct contact with an infected animal generally does not result in transmission.

As long as you have good hygiene, wash your hands after playing or petting the dog then you should be fine. I'm confused, is this your dog or someone Else's? If it's yours you need to see the vet asap to get the dog tested and treated! Does the dog have roundworms or something else?

Answer 3

Round worms are zooanotic, can be transmitted to people and children.

I don't think that is a word, "cacusita".

Roundworms are nematodes (thread-like). Roundworm infections are more common in warm climates than in cooler, temperate areas. Many roundworm parasitic diseases result from human carelessness and a lack of appropriate personal hygiene and sanitation measures. Thus, the best solution to the problem rests in preventing these infections rather than in curing them.

Roundworms have long, round bodies. They range in size from those plainly visible to the naked eye to those several hundredths-of-an-inch long and visible only under a microscope. Most roundworm eggs or larvae are found in the soil (deposited by an infected animal - usually poop) and can be picked up on the hands and transferred to the mouth or can enter through the skin. With the exception of the roundworm that causes trichinosis, mature adult roundworms eventually end up or live in human intestines and cause a variety of health problems.

They are very resistant to extremes of temperature and humidity. They usually are transmitted by hand to mouth, although the use of human feces as fertilizer may also permit transmission of infective eggs by food that is grown in the soil and eaten without being thoroughly washed. The eggs require several weeks to embryonate and become infective.

When eggs are swallowed and pass into the intestine, they hatch into larvae. The larvae then begin their journey through the body. Once through the intestinal wall, they reach the lungs by means of the blood or lymphatic system. In the lungs, they pass through the air sacs, are carried up the bronchial tree, and are reswallowed to be returned to the small intestine where they grow, mature, and mate. The worms reach maturity in about two months.

A large number of larvae invading the lungs at one time may cause pneumonia. This stage of the disease precedes the intestinal phase by weeks, and the symptoms are difficult to diagnose. Once mature female worms are present in the intestine, however, a doctor can diagnose the infection by finding characteristic eggs in the stool.

A few worms in the intestine may cause no symptoms or may give rise only to vague or intermittent abdominal pain. Heavy infection may cause partial or complete blockage of the intestine resulting in severe abdominal pain, vomiting, restlessness, and disturbed sleep. The heavier or greater the worm infection, the more severe the symptoms are likely to be. Occasionally, the first sign of infection may be the presence of a worm in the vomitus or in the stool.

Other species of ascarids such as Toxocara, which infect dogs and cats, can under certain circumstances be picked up by humans. In their natural hosts, these ascarids have a migratory cycle similar to A. lumbricoides; however, in humans they fail to reach the intestine. Instead they remain active in other body tissue for some time. This state of larval migration is known as visceral larva migrans. Young puppies and kittens contribute most to contamination of soil by eggs that must incubate for some time in the soil. Almost all dogs are infected at birth; however, older dogs have usually become immune.

Ascariasis can be successfully treated with mebendazole or pyrantel pamoate.

(National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Bethesda, MD 20892, October 1998. )

Answer 4

What are they?
Roundworms are big worms. Typically they are white, about the diameter of a spaghetti-strand and about 4 inches in length. Often times kittens or puppies vomit one up or we are horrified when we see them in the feces.

How do our pets get roundworms?
Kittens or puppies may be born with roundworms! We know that Roundworm larva are tiny enough to migrate through the placental blood supply to the fetal liver or lungs. Soon after birth the juvenile roundworms begin migrating from the liver and lungs to the intestine where they grow to adults and begin laying eggs. Within three weeks after birth, puppies and kittens can begin shedding roundworm eggs into the environment.

A second source of infection is through the mother's milk - Roundworm larva can gain entry into the mammary glands and then be passed to the puppies or kittens as they nurse.

A third possibility is if the young animal should eat an embryonated egg found in fecal contamination of food or water bowls, the nesting box or other environmental sources. The egg hatches within the intestine and a "Blood-Lung" migration begins as described below.

In the three cases above we are talking about a "Blood-Lung" migration. In other words, from wherever the roundworm larva gains entry into the pet's body the larva then migrate to the liver via the portal blood system (the portal blood system is the one draining from the stomach, intestines and leading to the liver) . The larva are then carried by the circulatory system to the lungs where they can pierce the walls of tiny lung blood vessels (capillaries) and gain entry into the airways (alveoli and bronchioles). The cilia (little whiskers that move foreign objects) lining the airways then move the larva up the bronchi and windpipe until they are coughed up and swallowed. Once they are swallowed they have become large enough that they can continue their maturation to adult egg-laying roundworms in the small intestine.

Somatic cycle... A second type of roundworm life cycle occurs when dogs or cats develop "age resistance" at about 6 months of age or older. Instead of the larval form reaching the lungs via the blood and going through the "coughing up, swallowing and growing to adult in the intestine" phase another phenomenon occurs. The so-called "age resistance" alerts the dog or cats immune system to the possible presence of roundworm larva. When a larva enters the body, the immune system traps it in walled-off granuloma's that may appear in nearly any tissue. I have personally seen them in liver tissue when doing post-morteum exams. Once trapped in granuloma's, the larva can live for years occasionally escaping to become re-trapped in other granuloma's. During the last 1/3 of pregnancy this migration of these juvenile roundworms is greatly accelerated allowing them to find their way into the placenta and fetus or into the mammary glands to infect nursing puppies. When the ***** cleans the puppies she also may swallow infective eggs.

What are the signs of roundworm infestation?
Actually, adult roundworms do little damage. They do not attach to the intestine wall and drain the pet's blood or nasty things like that. They just move around in the intestine and eat some of the nutrients intended for the pet or brouse on the mucous lining the intestine wall. Occasionally they will cause irritation inside the intestine & transient diarrhea or if they are in great enough numbers they can actually block the intestine and constipate the anim. If they find their way up into the stomach they can cause the pet to wretch and vomit the worm up.

More important to the pet's health are the migrating juveniles. As they pass thru the liver and lungs they can cause verminous pneumonia or hepatitis. Signs of roundworm infestation include: dull hair coat, pot-bellied unthrify appearance, poor weight gain, vomiting, coughing, intermittant diarrhea or constipation. Heavily infested puppies or kittens occasionally die of worm-related pneumonia.

What is the treatment?
It is easy to get rid of roundworms in the intestine. Just give any oral wormer effective against roundworms. My favorite is any brand with pyrantel pamoate as the active ingredient. This is generally well tolerated by the pet, safe and effective, but... Once again the "migrating juvenile worms are the problem". Nothing at all will kill the juvenile worms trapped in granuloma's. It is best to worm breeding female dogs and cats before breeding and again 3, 6 and 9 weeks after welping. Juveniles migrating through the liver and lungs also will not be killed by conventional wormers. This is why we like to worm puppies and kittens twice three weeks apart and then check a fecal specimen three weeks later. This allows all migrating juveniles to reach the intestine where they are easily killed.

So what's the big deal with public health significance?
Here is where it gets a bit frightening! Roundworm larva have actually blinded young children and caused countless other problems. The humans most affected are children from early neonatal age to four or five years of age, however any age can be affected. Why is this? The secret lies in hand-to-mouth ingestion of roundworm eggs. Lets say the cat uses the sandbox for a litter area. Kids playing in the sand very easily can pick up eggs on their hands and where do their hands go? Right in the mouth without being washed.

Once the embryonated roundworm egg reaches the intestine of the human it hatches and the larva penetrates the intestine wall. From there it gains entry into the blood stream and may end up just about anywhere in the body including vital organs such as the eye, brain, liver, kidneys, heart wall, lungs, etc. Since humans are an unnatural host for the roundworm larva, their body reacts and walls off the larva in little granuloma's (similar to what occurs in adult dogs and cats). These granuloma's may cause sudden dysfunction of any of these organs resulting in illness.

The most often diagnosed illness is loss of sight in one eye. The roundworm larva is trapped in the optic disk behind the retina of the eye and a granuloma forms. These granuloma's have been mistaken for retinoblastoma's (cancer of the retina) and the eye was mistakenly removed. I believe the reason the problem is so often diagnosed in the eye is because we know it is happening. We experience loss of vision; the eye is removed and the larva is discovered.

Remember what I said above? When roundworm larva are encased in granuloma's they are impossible to kill with any anti-parasitic drugs and they are also impossible to detect. How many cases of persons seizuring with no apparent cause could be related to roundworm larva? It is impossible to know because the granuloma's are impossible to detect. We can't remove the brain and search for the larva microscopically.

I hope I didn't scare you by making you aware of this problem. The problem is rare, but it "can" happen at any time. This is an important reason for people to always wash their hands before eating or putting a finger in the mouth. Who knows, it could save your eye!

Be Safe - Be Sure - Have Your Vet Check Your Pet for Intestinal Worms Twice a Year!