rusty
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Aug 9, 2004, 8:33 AM
Post #2 of 2
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Re: [elphynbuddy] I need urgent advise on Heartworm
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This is the first time I am giving advice in the forum. Don't believe me entirely. This is what I understand about heartworm disease. Check out the information on your own and seek second or third opinion. Here goes. For a start, there is a difference between heartworm infection and heartworm disease. Heartworm infection means that the dog has worms in the heart chambers. Whereas heartworm disease means that the dog has worms and starts to show symptoms of the problem eg. coughing, exercise intolerance, losing weight etc. Usually, for a two year old dog, very seldom you see heartworm disease but he could be having heartworm infection. Heartworm disease is an old dog disease, usually around 6-7 years after infection because that is the time when the worms start dying and cause problem. Before I answer your questions, let me just share with you the lifecycle of heartworm. When we say that a dog has heartworm infection, it means that the dog has adult worms in the heart. The male and female adult worms will mate and produce babies which are called L1 (1st stage larvae) or Microfilariae. These L1 are in the blood circulation of the dog. When a mosquito bites the infected dog, it will pick up the L1. In the mosquito, the L1 will develop into L2 and eventually into L3 depending on the environmental temperature (anytime below 15 degrees Celcius, the development will halt). L1 to L3 will take a period of around 14 days. The L3 is the infective stage whereby the mosquito will look for another victim or may go back to the same infected dog and transmit the L3. Once the L3 gets into the dog, it will migrate through the tissue and become L4. L3 - L4 will take around 1-3 days. From L4, it will slowly migrate to the veins leading back to the heart and develop into L5. L4 - L5 will take around 60 days. L5 will eventually end up in the heart as adult worms and this process will take another 4-6 months. The male and female adult worms will start mating again and produce L1 and the process goes on as before. Therefore, from the lifecycle, what we can gather is that from the time a clean dog is bitten by a mosquito carrying L3, it will take at least another 6 months before they start developing adult worms in the heart. From the time the dog has adult worms in the heart, it will take another 6-7 years later when the worms start dying and the dog starts showing symptoms as mentioned above. These information is important as it helps to determine the right time for testing. I shall stop here for the time being and if there are more interested parties who want to contribute, they are most welcome. Actually, it is already past midnight and I need to doze off. Will continue a few days later. Will be away. Sorry to keep you in suspense. Anyway, just to reassure you. Your dog should be O.K. Heartworm disease usually doesn't affect young dogs but that doesn't mean that your dog is not infected with Heartworm. Go for the test.
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