[Rachael x]

A few days ago Poppy ate a slug from the garden, I was then told by another member (furbutt) that slugs ans snails carry lung worm and can infect cats and dogs who eat them.
I had never heard of lung worm before, with the wetter weather coming slugs and snails will be more common in our gardens and I feel this is something we need to warn owners about.
I have gathered some information on lung worm below for you:




What is lung worm?
Lungworms are parasiticnematode worms of the order Strongylida that infest the lungs of vertebrates. The name is used for a variety of different groups of nematodes, some of which also have other common names; what they have in common is that they migrate to their hosts' lungs or respiratory tracts, and cause bronchitis or pneumonia. The lungworm will gradually damage the airways or lung tissue by inciting an inflammatory reaction inside the tissue. Ultimately, the parasites survives and reproduce in the respiratory tissues. The category is thus more a descriptive than a precisely taxonomic one. The most common lungworms belong to one of two groups, the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea or the superfamily Metastrongyloidea, but not all the species in these superfamilies are lungworms.
The lungworms in the superfamily Trichostrongyloidea include several species in the genus Dictyocaulus which infest hoofed animals, including most common domestic species. Different species are found in cattle and deer (D. viviparus), donkeys and horses (D. arnfeldi), and sheep and goats (D. filaria). These animals have direct life-cycles. The lungworms in the superfamily Metastrongyloidea include species that infest a wider range of mammals, including sheep, goats and pigs but also cats and dogs. These include Metastrongylus apri, found in pigs; Oslerus osleri found in dogs; and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus found in cats. Some of these have indirect, and complex, life-cycles; several of them involve slugs or snails as intermediate hosts, where the habit of sniffing at slug trails, or even licking them, causes the parasite egg to enter the dog's respiratory tract. In the case of A. abstrusus the cat is normally infected by eating a bird or rodent that has itself eaten the original host.


Life cycle
The general life cycle of a lungworm begins with an ingestion of infected larvae. The infected larvae then penetrate the intestinal wall where larvae migrate into the lungs through the bloodstream. The infected larvae reside in the lungs until the development into adult larvae. The eggs of the adult larvae hatch thus producing lungworm. These eggs that reside in the lungs are coughed up and then ingested back into the stomach and then into feces. A detailed diagram of a lungworm lifecycle is shown at: Lung Worms-Encylopedic Reference of Parasitology.


Symptoms
The most common symptom is coughing and other typical symptoms are wheezing and weight loss. These symptoms are caused by larvae that reside in the lungs where immunity develops and the accumulation of mucus cause blockage of the airway into the lungs.


Diagnosis
If an animal is suspected of lungworm infection, there are many ways to detect this parasitic infection such as performing one or more of the following techniques: a complete medical history including lung auscultation (stethoscope examination), doing a chest xray, examination of fecal examination for detection of ova or larvae, examination of respiratory secretions for ova or larvae, and/or a complete blood count (CBC) to check for signs of increase in eosinophils.


Treatment
Lungworm infestations can cause significant distress to the animal but are usually treatable with drugs. Oxibendazole is commonly used as a prophylactic against these and other nematode infestations.
If infected with lungworm parasite, an anti-parasite drug must be administered.
In the case of a severe reaction, an anti-inflammatory drug of corticosteroids may be given for a brief period (3 to 10 days).
To treat tissue inflammation, Prednisone is usually given (5–10 days). However, there are some side effects such as increased urination or appetite.
The drug fenbendazole is usually administer to kill the parasite. It is very safe and does not harm the animal.
There are several different Lungworm parasites that have been identified. Although they all originate from the lungworm parasite, they are treated somewhat differently and requires a combination of various drugs to treat the parasite:
Aelurostrongylus abstrusus Treatment Take Fenbendazole (Panacur) for 10 days and Ivermectin for 3 days to 5 days.
Paragonimus kellicotti Treatment Take Fenbendazole (Panacur) for 10 days, Praziquantel (Droncit) every 8 hours for 2 days, Albendazole every 12 hours for 10 to 20 days, and then Ivermectin two treatments, 2 weeks apart
Capillaria aerophilia Treatment Take Fenbendazole (Panacur) for 10 days , Albendazole for 10 to 20 days, and Ivermectin one or two doses.



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